Cleveland Browns running back Isaiah Crowell is penciled in as the team's starting tailback, taking first-team reps in practice and benefiting from injuries to backups Duke Johnson and Terrance West.

But position coach Wilbert Montgomery doesn't think Crowell is taking full advantage of the opportunity, and he's disappointed in the lack of ambition he sees from his players.

"How can you play and not want to be a starter?" Montgomery said Sunday, according to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. "It just bothers me that guys don't want to be the lead bell-cow guy. This game gives you so much. I always talk to them about what this game gives you as a young person, but what it does for them in life and to their families. So if you want to be a backup, then be a backup. But I mean you're going to get replaced. At some point, you've got to be a starter if you want to hang around."

Specifically addressing Crowell, Montgomery went on to say that he's not guaranteed the lead-back role by default, emphatically denying that simply staying healthy gives players the inside track.

"No, it doesn't mean that, because he's got to show me that he's hungry," Montgomery said. "And (what) I mean by hungry, if you want to be a starter, you practice like a starter and you do the things that you'd want. You take care of your body. You show up and do the things that are going to keep you healthy, get treatment after practice, hydrate, do all the little things you have to do in order to be that guy."

Position coaches rarely question a player's drive and commitment in such a public forum, and this could signal that if the rookie Johnson can get healthy, Crowell could be usurped as the starter. The more likely scenario is a three-way split throughout the season.