The question is NOT who will replace Mayo's LB reps from Sunday. Hopefully, Hightower will do that. Our 3rd LB is Skinner. IMHO, the question before the house is who should be signed as a 4th position LB in case one of the three is not available. Belichick is holding tryouts and he has Fleming on the Practice Squad. Beauharnais is available in the last half if he wants.
Davis and White are STO players. Unless the player is Fleming, we won't see any additions for Thursday night. As long as Hightower is ready, I'm not even sure that we'd activate Fleming. We have Hightower, Collins and Skinner. We have Ninkovich if there is a further injury (IMHO a better option that using Fleming).
Yes, I 'd prefer to see Ninkovich stay at DE, which is easy to do with Hightower healthy. Belichick is confident of Skinner in the base.