Montario Hardesty Out For Weeks With Knee Injury

Posted by Kurt on Jul 31, 2010 in Fantasy Football

It’s like the curse of Madden in fantasy form. Earlier this week I pegged the Cleveland Browns rookie running back, Montario Hardesty as something of a sleeper pick heading into camp and he’s already gotten himself hurt.

Hardesty, a second-round pick is competing with Jerome Harrison for the Brown’s starting tailback job. Now he’s off to a slow start, not practicing Saturday morning as the Browns opened training camp.

Hardesty twisted his knee during rookie practices earlier in the week and will be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks.

“He twisted his knee in a drill the other day,” coach Eric Mangini said. “We probably won’t see him for a couple weeks. We’re taking it slow and being conservative. We’ll see where he is at that point.”

Hardesty’s college career at Tennessee was slowed by a series of injuries. He had knee surgery at Tennessee, but Mangini said this setback isn’t related.

“It’s nothing that is a pre-existing type situation,” Mangini said.

From a fantasy perspective this won’t change Hardesty’s value unless the injury is worse than described. In fact this news may make him more of a sleeper, as owners avoid drafting him.