Will Wes play?

Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker, who did not appear in Thursday's exhibition opener vs. the Eagles and has not been on the field during recent full-pad workouts, appeared for this morning's walkthrough and took snaps with the first-team offense.

Welker looked good hauling in passes from Brady as the team worked heavily on its two-minute offense early in the session.

"I feel good; glad to be out there, be around my teammates and go through the walkthrough," said Welker.

So will he play Thursday night in New England's second exhibition game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Gillette Stadium?

"I don't know, that's up to Coach Belichick," said Welker. 'You'll have to ask him."

So the media put the question to Belichick. And, as you probably guessed, he wasn't ready to tip his hand, not even for a preseason game.

"Some of the guys that haven't practice at one time or another, we'll do the final wrap-up on that tonight, and we'll see how they do today," said Belichick. "We'll see how they are at 48 hours before game time, that's our normal time frame, anyway.

"So to answer your question: No (I don't know if Welker will play)."

For his part, Welker expressed an interest in being on the field Thursday.

"Of course I want to play," said Welker. "I think anybody who likes to compete would like to get out there and play."