FOXBORO -- Patriots center Bryan Stork was not seen during the media availability period of the team's practice on Sunday afternoon.
The second-year offensive lineman has missed time with an injury since early in training camp. If he's not available for Thursday night's game with the Steelers, the options to replace him at center would be Ryan Wendell, Josh Kline or undrafted rookie David Andrews.
Six practice-squad players were present during Sunday's session: linebackers Darius Fleming and seventh-round pick Xzavier Dickson, safety Brandon King, tight end Asante Cleveland, cornerback Dax Swanson and receiver Kenbrell Thompkins, who reportedly re-signed with the club on Sunday.
Thompkins was waived during the regular season last year, and the Patriots hoped they would be able to re-sign him to their practice squad. Instead, the Raiders nabbed Thompkins and kept him through most of this year's training camp.
The Patriots had four players wearing new numbers on Sunday: corner Tarell Brown (No. 25) and rookie defensive linemen Malcom Brown (No. 90), Geneo Grissom (No. 92) and Trey Flowers (No. 98).