Seven Patriots will start training camp on the active/physically unable to perform list after a league source confirmed that the team placed six veterans on the list Monday.
Tight ends Jake Ballard and Daniel Fells, guard Logan Mankins, defensive lineman Myron Pryor, linebacker Brandon Spikes, and offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer were placed on active/PUP.
Each is dealing with an injury or recovery from surgery during the offseason — Mankins and Ballard (then as a member of the Giants) each tore an ACL in Super Bowl XLVI; Vollmer underwent a small procedure on his back; Spikes underwent arthroscopic surgery after the Super Bowl; Pryor had shoulder surgery last year, and Fells is nursing a leg injury.
They join rookie receiver Jeremy Ebert, who was placed on active/PUP by the team last week.
Players on active/PUP can be removed at any time, though they do count against the 90-man roster.
Love is in the air
Defensive tackle Kyle Love, an exclusive-rights free agent, signed the Patriots tender . . . Tom Hennessey, 70, a member of the Boston Patriots in 1965-66, and a classmate of Patriots owner Robert Kraft at Brookline High, died Sunday. The defensive back was the team’s rookie of the year in 1965.
Vilma has hearing
Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith met Monday with NFL lawyers and a federal magistrate, but the closed-door settlement conference didn’t resolve lawsuits spawned by the players’ suspensions following the league’s bounty investigation. Vilma and his attorneys emerged from the three-hour conference with US Magistrate Daniel Knowles III without commenting on whether progress was made toward resolution of the case. The meeting was closed to the public. In a court filing later Monday, Knowles said a settlement can’t be reached ‘‘at this time.’’ But he instructed the parties to contact him ‘‘at any stage of the proceeding if an additional settlement conference would be beneficial.’’ Vilma declined comment but said, ‘‘I want the team to do well, and I want to be part of the team.’’ The star linebacker and Saints coach Sean Payton have been suspended for the 2012 season for their alleged roles in a bounty program the NFL says targeted opposition players for three seasons. Smith is suspended for four games. NFL attorneys and lawyers for Smith also declined to comment.
Lions cut Berry
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Shalise Manza Young can be reached at syoung@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @shalisemyoung.