Browns RB Trent Richardson’s Status for Thursday is Uncertain

Cleveland Browns running back Trent Richardson is back at practice after sustaining a bruised right shin when accidentally kicked by a teammate last week.

Of course, injuries to the same shin forced Richardson to miss out on much of the team’s OTAs and its entire minicamp this summer, so the Browns are being especially cautious.

That means Richardson’s status for Thursday’s preseason opener is still up in the air. And while Richardson wants to play every preseason game in a show of good health, keeping him sidelined wouldn’t be a bad idea.

With four brutally long preseason games to go, more players with injury histories – or those who are recovering from aggravating recent ones – should sit out. What good is accomplished by playing one or two series anyway, other than to cause extreme overreactions from the people watching the game?

This is less an indictment on Richardson’s health than it is a plea to limit the absurd length of the NFL’s preseason. As Richardson’s recent shin incident can attest, injuries are often freak accidents, so why not limit them as much as possible to when the games actually count, especially for someone who is a target for Injury’s fierce wrath?