August is such a great a sports month. Maybe it's not the best,but it certainly ranks right up there, only because baseball pennant races are heating up and pro football training camps are hitting full stride as teams get ready to start the ridiculously long NFL preseason schedule.

Of note yesterday was the report that New England Patriots WR Wes Welker was taking hits in drills. Normally, this is not such a big deal however Welker is trying to get back on the field after tearing his left ACL last season.

I've heard people chastise the Patriots for putting a key contributor in harms way, and it's hard to argue with that train of thought- but I'll try.

Risk of injury pervades every nuance of the on-field product of the NFL. That's just the way it is. It doesn't matter if it's rookie mini-camp, OTA's, training camp, weekly practice, or gameday. Sure, coaches take as many precautions as necessary to minimize that risk, but it's always there and sometimes it's unavoidable.

Before this past week, Welker hadn't performed any real football related activity since January 3. If he's medically cleared to return to full practice, why shouldn't he be allowed to take hits? If there was a realistic risk of reinjury, he should not be cleared for full practice.

But he is, and so he should be made available to get his clock cleaned like the rest of them.

This will actually reap instant rewards should he not suffer another injury. Welker's size pretty much exempts him from ever being a streak-down-the-sidelines-over-the-shoulder-TD-bomb-catching receiver. (I think that's a record for consecutive hyphens- CALL GUINNESS!) Therefore, Welker makes his money going over the middle on underneath and crossing routes.

If a player like that even has an inkling of reluctance it's going to hamper his performance. It has to. There's no way it can't. He needs to be comfortable and confident going over the middle and the Patriots coaches recognize this.

If Welker makes it through camp and catches 7 balls for 100+ yards in an opening week victory, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will look like a genius. Again.

If he were to hold Welker back it would just be delaying the psychological recovery process. After Thursday's drill, Welker has to feel confident that he's back to 100%. That makes Randy Moss better. That makes Tom Brady better. And that makes the New England Patriots better.

Again.