Every Saturday, we'll lead off the day with a question on Twitter on a hot topic surrounding the Patriots.

Unless I missed something on the opening day of camp, when Amendola was on the field, my sense is that we'll see Amendola back in action Saturday when the New England Patriots are in full pads for the first time. The same with fellow receiver Malcolm Mitchell.

If that's the way it unfolds, it could be an indication of how the Patriots plan to manage both players with long-term preservation in mind. Amendola, 31, is at the point of his career where days off every once in a while might be best for him to make it through the duration of a season to be at his best down the homestretch. And Mitchell, who has a history of knee injuries dating back to college that concerned some teams, was managed similarly at times last year. Mitchell also was held out of spring practices this year.

Specific to Amendola, his clutch play in big games still has great value to the Patriots. Surely, that was something the club weighed when bringing him back on a reduced contract in 2017, which essentially locked the Patriots in to keeping at least six receivers on the initial 53-man roster: Julian Edelman, Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan, Mitchell, Amendola and Matthew Slater.

Before he was injured and missed the final four regular-season games of 2016, Amendola averaged 22 offensive snaps per game. In Super Bowl LI, he played 45.

Those numbers are telling to me, and sum up what I believe to be the team's plan with Amendola: Manage his snaps/health in camp, preseason and regular season with injury prevention in mind, then turn him loose when the stakes get higher and he usually delivers in the clutch.

So this is something I'll follow up on early Saturday morning when practice begins (9:15 a.m. ET), and will update this post to reflect any notable developments. Some observers thought they might have seen Amendola reach for his hamstring on the opening day of practice, but that it didn't look serious.