FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots released three players and placed running back Dion Lewis and right tackle Sebastian Vollmer on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, trimming their roster to the 75-man limit Tuesday.
Linebacker Ramon Humber, tight end Steven Scheu, and offensive tackle Keavon Milton were released.
Lewis and Vollmer will be ineligible for the first six weeks of the season and must return by Week 11 in order to play this season. ESPN reported that Vollmer is unlikely to return as he recovers from nagging injuries to his hip and shoulder.
Lewis needed cleanup surgery for an ACL injury in his left knee.
The Patriots signed Humber as an unrestricted free agent in March, but the veteran entering his eighth season did not show enough in practice to jump ahead of rookies such as Kamu Grugier-Hill.
Scheu, who played at Vanderbilt, was an undrafted free agent with a difficult path to the roster at a stacked position.
Milton was signed to the practice squad last November and wasn’t able to win a backup spot.
Coach Bill Belichick said in a news conference before the cuts were announced that Thursday’s preseason game against the Giants factored into the roster decisions.
“You’re thin at a position and sometimes you have to keep an extra player or two just to be able to play the game so that everybody else can benefit from it, even though those players might not necessarily be on your roster if everybody was available,’’ Belichick said.
The team has until 4 p.m. Saturday to trim the roster to 53 players.
Slater absent again
Special teams captain Matthew Slater missed practice for the second straight day. Also missing were rookie cornerback Cre’von LeBlanc, tackle Nate Solder, and linebacker Shea McClellin.
Defensive end Rob Ninkovich (triceps) and receiver Malcolm Mitchell (elbow) stayed on the field for positional drills. Both had been going to the practice field after stretching since their injuries.
Guards Shaq Mason (broken hand), Jonathan Cooper (plantar fasciitis), and Tre’ Jackson (knee), and receiver Danny Amendola (knee, ankle) did head to the lower fields post-stretching.
Cheerful attitude
Mitchell’s return before the final preseason game seemed unlikely when the receiver went down in the preseason opener against the Saints as his elbow injury looked groan-out-loud severe.
Before graduating to positional drills Tuesday, he had been attending practice but doing only conditioning work.
He did his best to keep from getting frustrated.
“I try to be smart,’’ Mitchell said. “That’s the best way I can put it. To get frustrated over something I have no control over would be stressful, and that’s unnecessary stress that . . . it can only hurt me.’’
Mitchell, who was having a standout camp before he dislocated his elbow, has been watching plenty of practice film and going over the preseason games he’s missed. He said he lets himself enjoy watching as “a fan.’’
“When I’m watching them play, I’m not saying, ‘Hey,’ I’m not dissecting the play,’’ he said.
“If somebody catches a pass, I’m cheering for them.’’
Dress it up
Many players had their formal wear hanging in their lockers for the annual Patriots Premiere gala at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday night. Jimmy Garoppolo had a pink button-down and a jacket with a sharp purple pocket square hanging in his. The star was Rob Gronkowski , who received the Ron Burton Community Service Award . . . Tom Brady still had a pair of metal scissors hanging in his stall, hinged all the way open . . . Sports Illustrated’s MMQB reporter Albert Breerreported the Patriots have been shopping wide receiver Aaron Dobson . . . Former Patriot Rodney Harrison, now an NBC analyst, criticized Colin Kaepernick’s decision not to stand for the national anthem to protest what the 49ers quarterback sees as racial inequality in the United States by saying on a Houston radio show that Kaepernick “cannot understand what I face and what other young black men and black people face’’ because he is “not black.’’ Kaepernick is biracial, which Harrison said he did not know when he later apologized on Twitter.
Nora Princiotti can be reached at nora.princiotti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @NoraPrinciotti.
