Cleveland Browns rookie running back Montario Hardesty has left his exhibition debut because of an injured left knee. Hardesty, who missed all of training camp with a bone bruise in his right knee, was hurt on a 2-yard carry in the second quarter Thursday night against the Chicago Bears. Hardesty stayed on the ground for several minutes before walking to the sideline.

Rookie quarterback Colt McCoy is starting Cleveland's final exhibition game. McCoy, who slid to the third round in April's draft before the Browns selected him at No. 85 overall, is expected to play at least one half against the Chicago Bears on Thursday night. McCoy has had a shaky preseason. The former Texas star has completed 15 of 26 passes for 101 yards and two interceptions.

The final preseason game of the year is upon us, otherwise known as “the game in which future UPS drivers fight with each other over the last few roster spots.”

Head Coach Eric Mangini already has confirmed that Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace will not play so he can get extended looks at Colt McCoy and Brett Ratliff.

This really isn’t a high-pressure situation for McCoy since his roster spot is secure at this point, but it is an important game in his development. McCoy will need to show the team he’s made progress throughout this preseason.

McCoy hasn’t gotten a lot of snaps in practice or in the preseason games, and he has looked like a raw, third-round draft pick. There’s nothing wrong with that at this time, but the fan in all of us wants to see him do better.

For Ratliff, this game probably is a chance for him to showcase his skills in the hope that another team will pick him up.  He is no longer eligible for the Browns practice squad, and the chances of the Browns keeping four quarterbacks on the roster is slim.

If the Browns do keep all four quarterbacks, it’s because they’re not comfortable with where McCoy is in his development, and want to keep Ratliff around in case of catastrophic injury to the quarterback position.

As has been said before, though, Ratliff wasn’t allowed on the field last year even after Brady Quinn had been injured, and Derek Anderson was benched once previously.

Moving on to the other positions, running back Montario Hardesty will get some quality time in tonight, and if he looks as good as promised, Jerome Harrison probably will find himself on the trading block.

Harrison’s run of good games last year wasn’t enough to secure the top spot on the running back depth chart, and his preseason fumbilitis hasn’t helped his cause.

Moving down the depth chart, James Davis has the edge to make the roster over Chris Jennings, according to some rumors floating out of Berea, but that’s what the fourth preseason game is for, to help the coaches make this decision.

Turning to the defense, David Veikune definitely is on the roster bubble, and he’s going to have to seriously impress the coaches versus the Bears to make the team. While he’s all over the field, he never really seems to be where the play is.

Veikune was a second-round draft pick last year, but he had a terrible rookie season and his 2010 preseason hasn’t been going much better. A good coaching staff will admit their mistake and cut their losses now if he doesn’t show any improvement. It stinks blowing a second-round draft pick, but that’s a different argument.

It’s also vital for the defensive line to show some cohesion and improvement, but depending on how much the starters play, or if Mangini really has decided who the starters are going to be, it will be a hard decision all around.

The secondary still is hampered by Abe Elam’s inability to cover speedy receivers, and the last few games showed the Browns defense has difficulty covering tight ends.

If you’re not watching Ohio State, the Browns game tonight should be fairly interesting from a developmental aspect, but don’t expect to see the game of the year.

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The primary mission for the Browns in training camp was settling the quarterback situation, and that happened quickly when Jake Delhomme justified the faith that team president Mike Holmgren showed in him.

Delhomme earned the job in OTAs and minicamp and then kept it going through the first week of training camp. He played only one series against the Packers in the first preseason game. He completed 6 of 7 passes for 66 yards on a touchdown drive.

By the time the Browns finished their third preseason game, Delhomme was set for the real games to begin. He completed 38 of 48 passes for 345 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the preseason. He is as far removed from the eight touchdown-18 interception season he had with the Panthers last year as Charlotte is from…

With the Cincinnati Bengals deciding Terrell Owens was ultimately a better fit for their team than Antonio Bryant, Bryant was released. Now that he is a free agent there is once again a solid veteran WR on the market for any team to sign.

While the Browns have maintained they feel comfortable with the youth at the position, many fans and members of the media think this group needs to be strengthened.

This article isn’t meant to be a “We’ve got to get this guy!” type, it is just a topic that I think the team and fans should think about. I wasn’t as impressed with his Bengals’ signing as most, but I do think he can add a solid option to any team.

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Todd Collins said he has not played in the fourth preseason game for at least a few years.

The Cleveland Browns‘ rookie second round pick Montario Hardesty may have missed all of training camp and three out of four games this preseason, but he is ready to show both Browns fans and the rest of the world why he is made for the city of Cleveland.

At 6′ and 225 pounds, Hardesty is a big, strong, and fast running back with a fantastic spin move to boot.

But what will really set him apart from the other runners on the Browns’ roster are the uncanny abilities he showed in college to both run with power on the inside and then turn on the speed to get around the corner as well.

Prior to training camp, when Hardesty bruised a bone in his knee, the Browns medical and coaching staff had him sit for most of August for precautionary reasons, due to his history of knee problems in college.

According to Cleveland.com, Hardesty has been practicing for the past weeks in full pads with his teammates, and he looks to play a lot in the final game versus the Chicago Bears in front of the hometown fans in Cleveland to prep himself for the regular season.

Everyone from ESPN to local Cleveland news could not print or talk enough about Hardesty during the off-season programs and he finally gets to show all the Browns backers why he was worth spending three draft picks on back in April’s 2010 NFL draft.

Many Browns fans are on the fence about Hardesty and that is understandable. He was injury-prone in college and then he banged up his knee in his first months wearing an orange helmet.

Without having any details about the bone bruise that was sustained at the end of July, most likely he banged his knee with another rookie while not wearing pads, but this is also just a common sense guess too.

Rookies reported early for training camp at the end of July and this was when Hardesty’s bone bruise occurred, He was probably practicing in shorts which is very common in late July.

But to get back to the point, Hardesty is made for Cleveland as a runner.

Why you might ask?

To start, he may have to shake off some rust against the Bears, and in the first few regular season games too, but do not doubt he has the body of a player who will be instrumental when the Cleveland weather turns for the worse in mid-to-late November.

As head coach Eric Mangini and the Browns showed at the end of the 2009 season, once the weather gets really cold, the Browns turn into a run-first team, even when the opposing defenses knew the Browns were going to run, they still could not stop them.

With Hardesty on board, he will be running on all cylinders hopefully sooner than later, but definitely when November rolls in barring any further injuries and he will easily be a big feature on offense in those bad weather games and when the snow starts to fall.

Yes Jerome Harrison, who is a smaller back, but was able to carry that burden one season ago, was carrying the running game along with a bit of Josh Cribbs sprinkled in last season.

This season though, there will not be those games when Harrison has to carry the ball over 30-plus times per game because Hardesty and Peyton Hillis will help ease the added stress of carrying the ball many times.

The Browns being in Cleveland are a cold weather team and both Mangini and the fans know to win in the last half of the season, you have to run the ball often in that cold weather.

That is where having bigger backs like Hardesty and Hillis will help because the last thing an opposing defense wants to do when playing on the frozen field at Cleveland Browns Stadium is to stay on the field while two 225-plus pound running backs are pounding into them and then a shifty Harrison and the ever-tough-to-tackle Cribbs are brought in to switch it up.

Not saying the Browns will be playing for a playoff spot come the end of the 2010 season, but do not be surprised if they can win more games than they lose once again in the second half of this season just because they are built to win in the cold weather.

The Browns look to do just that with their deep backfield in 2010, and far beyond that.

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(Also posted on Dawg Scooper: THE Cleveland Browns Blog)

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