Dont’a Hightower, Alan Branch placed on PUP list
Two of the Patriots stalwart defenders from last season’s Super Bowl-winning squad will begin training camp on the active/physically unable to perform list
Captain Dont’a Hightower, the team’s top linebacker and the quarterback of the defense, and Alan Branch, the club’s top interior lineman, will be out when the team begins practice Thursday morning.
Hightower, who landed a four-year contract worth $35.5 million (including $17 million guaranteed) in the offseason, was not a full participant in minicamp and OTA spring practices as he recuperates from an undisclosed ailment.
An excellent all-around defender who can stuff the run and pressure the pocket, Hightower, 27, logged a lot of miles on the stationary bike and worked with other recovering players on an adjacent practice field during the spring.
The 6-foot-6-inch, 350-pound Branch was the only Patriot who didn’t come for voluntary practices during the spring. For minicamp, Branch, 32, didn’t work with the regular rotations, rather he worked with Hightower and other players who weren’t quite ready to go full speed.
Branch, who scored a two-year, $8.45 million deal in the offseason (including $3 million guaranteed), was lauded by coach Bill Belichick as the team’s most consistent interior lineman last season. Branch, who opened the 2016 season on the non-football injury list, also has a $400,000 weight bonus in his contract.
Hightower and Branch can come off the active/PUP list whenever they are ready to go.
