It was announced yesterday that Houston Texans star Running Back Arian Foster suffered a potentially serious groin injury during the first day of full padded workouts as a team. The former rushing champion missing time from the Texans offense at the start of the season due to an expected surgery would be a huge blow to their new look.
Currently, the team is unaware of how long Foster will be out, but it might be an extended amount of time because Houston is looking for some sort of temporary fix.
Following from ESPN’s Tania Ganguli.
Coach Bill O’Brien said the Texans still do not know how long Arian Foster will be out with a groin injury, but he acknowledged the team is looking to bring in another running back.
“We want someone that can do a little bit of everything,” O’Brien said.
The Texans had running backs Pierre Thomas, Joe McKnight and Ben Malena in to work out Wednesday.
The Texans current list of backup running backs includes returning backs Jonathan Grimes, entering his fourth season in the NFL, and fullback Jay Prosch. The Texans also added Chris Polk in free agency and drafted Kenny Hilliard. Alfred Blue, who did have some solid games when Foster missed time last season, is penciled in right now as the starter for Houston but it’s not a great solution to their problems.
The Texans did have former New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas in for a workout but no deal was agreed upon, according to Thomas’ agent Lamont Smith.
#NFL Pierre Thomas had a great visit and work out with texans, unfortunately we were unable to agree on terms.
— Lamont Smith (@CLamontSmith) August 5, 2015
If Thomas or Blue aren’t the answer to what the Texans want right now, there are a few decent replacement options on the table. Chris Johnson and Stephen Jackson are former rushing champions who are healthy free agents. Knowshon Moreno is coming off a torn ACL last October but he’s still young and can still provide what the Texans may be looking for, a guy who can do a little bit of everything. Ahmad Bradshaw is former Super Bowl champion who has played on some stellar Indianapolis Colts offenses the last few years and shares a similar skillset to Moreno. Ray Rice, who has to go through his own personal issues and could be an off-the-field issues, could be a great player to come in as a rental for a few weeks and continue to rehab his image once Foster does return.
