The Facts: Lewis, who is coming back from a torn left ACL sustained Nov. 7, remains on the PUP list, but ESPN.com's Mike Reiss is told that isn't a result of any type of setback.

Diehards Line: Reiss went on to explain the expectation of those close to Lewis was that the team would take it slow with him because preserving him for the 16-game regular season is the goal. Reiss thinks Lewis' usage is one of the more compelling storylines of this season. During the first five games of last season, he was on the field for 66 percent of the team's offensive snaps before injuries (first abdomen, then knee) altered the course. Given his importance to the team, does that workload need to be scaled back in 2016? "You never necessarily know if that led to an injury or didn't, so that's a tricky question to find out exactly what it was," offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said at the outset of training camp. "But the goal in mind is to find the optimum usage level for each player and work to it. Sometimes that's not easy to identify at the beginning." We'll be watching for any indications the Patriots are dialing that goal in with Lewis.