ESPN's Ed Werder reports that the Browns are mulling over the possibility of sitting running back Trent Richardson down through their Week 10 bye. Richardson suffered a rib cartilage injury in Week 6, an injury he tried to play through last week, but he was pulled out of the game after just eight carries by head coach Pat Shurmur. Richardson said after the game that the injury definitely affected his performance and is "worse than what people think it is."
Werder said on a Tuesday edition of SportsCenter that "The team (is) now discussing whether to hold [Richardson] out through the bye week to allow him to heal. The fear that if they don't, he'll be debilitated by his injury all year long. There's internal conflict about shutting him down, though, because Pat Shurmur, the coach, has to win some games here. They've only got one victory and Jimmy Haslem, the new owner, says he wants a stronger finish if he's going to bring back the coaching staff.
Fantasy Analysis:
Sitting him down would seem to be the smart move for Richardson. If he keeps playing with the damaged ribs, he could make the injury so bad that he may have to be shut down for much longer than just a couple of weeks. Montario Hardesty 
would be become the Browns' No. 1 RB for as long as Richardson is out. He should be added immediately. We should know more about Richardson's Week 8 status after a couple of practice days, but it doesn't look good for him at all right now.
