If you already had your fantasy football draft and selected Arian Foster, here’s hoping you also handcuffed him with Alfred Blue.
With Foster out indefinitely because of a groin injury that will require surgery, the Houston Texans need to replace their star running back. For now, Alfred Blue and Jonathan Grimes appear to be most likely to split the action, with Chris Polk also in the mix.
Blue is in his second NFL season out of LSU. He showed he was capable of carrying the load when he rushed for 156 yards on 36 carries in Week 11 against the Browns last year. He only averaged 3.1 yards per carry, which is pretty terrible. More than half of his carries went for less than two yards. But he also is a threat to catch passes out of the backfield. The Texans are unlikely to be completely satisfied with him and would probably bring in someone else.
Grimes is entering his third season with the Texans. He saw some work last season as a third-down back and caught six passes for 86 yards. He also rushed for 153 yards on 39 carries for a 3.9 ypc average.
Polk was signed by the Texans in April. He spent the past three seasons in Philly and actually scored five touchdowns last year with the Eagles, including one on a kickoff return. He’s not the most talented guy, but he will compete for action.
Blue, Grimes and Polk aren’t exactly the greatest combination of backs around. Houston may even look to the free agent market to see who might be worth a pickup.
Here are some of the top free agent running backs available:
Best available RBs for #Texans: S. Jackson, A. Bradshaw (1-gm susp.), C. Johnson, Pierre Thomas, S. Greene, B. Tate, K. Moreno, R. Rice.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) August 4, 2015
