Cleveland Browns: Is Montario Hardesty Being Overprotected?

"They called me Mr. Glass."
- Elijah Price, Unbreakable

There's a difference between being cautious and being overprotective.

Such is the case with Cleveland Browns second-year running back Montario Hardesty.

We are all aware that the second-round pick blew out his knee in the preseason last year and missed his entire rookie season.

He's worked his way back and is active and participating in practice. Browns coaches and trainers insist that Hardesty is fine and that when they hold him out of practice it is only for precautionary reasons.

It was under this guise that he was also held out of the first preseason game this past Saturday against the Green Bay Packers.

I want to see Hardesty play and be healthy and contribute to this football team in the regular season. He could be a fantastic change of pace back to go along with Peyton Hillis.

But at some point the training wheels are going to have to come off.

This is football for crying out loud! At some point he's going to need to get into a game and take some real live contact.

If the knee isn't fully healed then I understand. He should be held out in that case.

But tell us that. Don't say he's fine and that the knee is fully healed and that he's good to go and then hold him out of games!

Is this too much to ask? Seriously, am I way off on this?

There is growing skepticism among Browns fans that Hardesty is made of glass. He had injury problems in college. He had a knee problem in training camp last year that held him out of most activities until he got into that preseason game and hurt his other knee.

The Browns need to find out for sure if this is a guy that they are going to be able to count when the season gets rolling.

If he is in fact good to go, then fine. Let's do this.

If not, then we need to find a replacement.

But we'll never know for sure as long as the Browns keep coddling Hardesty like he's a fragile little China doll.

We also need to find out about Hardesty's mental state. Football is such a tough sport mentally as much as physically. A player can have more talent than anyone in the world but if he plays afraid of getting hurt then he might as well be on the bench.

The injury that Hardesty sustained was significant. Will he be able to bounce back and play without fear of blowing out his knee again? This is even more important for a running back where a moment's hesitation is the difference between a huge gain and a devastating loss.

I hope that he's all good upstairs as well as in his knees.

I believe that Tom Heckert knew what he was doing when he traded up to draft Hardesty last year.

It would just be nice to see for ourselves what we have in Montario Hardesty.

He's not a China doll, he's a football player. Let him play.

You can follow me on Twitter @ClevelandFlack