Gunner Olszewski misses second Patriots practice in a row

FOXBORO – The Patriots held their last practice of the offseason on Friday. The team was missing five players – Gunner Olszewski, Damien Harris, Beau Allen, Nick Thurman and Scoota Harris. Defensive lineman Tashawn Bower returned.

The Patriots will be off on Saturday as the team whittles down its roster from 77 players to 53. The next time they practice, on Sunday, they’ll have less players and start to prepare and game plan for the Miami Dolphins. [...]

FOXBORO – The Patriots held their last practice of the offseason on Friday. The team was missing five players – Gunner Olszewski, Damien Harris, Beau Allen, Nick Thurman and Scoota Harris. Defensive lineman Tashawn Bower returned.

The Patriots will be off on Saturday as the team whittles down its roster from 77 players to 53. The next time they practice, on Sunday, they’ll have less players and start to prepare and game plan for the Miami Dolphins.

Friday marked the second day in a row that Olszewski missed practice. The wide receiver was one of the stars of training camp this year and looked like one of the team’s most improved players. Harris missed every practice this week after having surgery on his pinky.

On defense, Allen missed every single practice that the media was present for this summer. The defensive tackle has been dealing with a lower body injury. When signed, it was thought that Allen would replace Danny Shelton on the Patriots’ defensive line. On Saturday, it’ll be interesting to see if the Pats keep Allen on the 53-man roster or place him on the injured reserve.

mdaniels@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @MarkDanielsPJ