Fantasy Football Cut-N-Go: Introducing Arian Foster

Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.

Steve Slaton was all set to be the Houston Texans' next big thing at running back this season. He started slow and ended his season early due to injury. Next came Ryan Moats, who started strong but didn't have the staying power to be a featured back in Houston. The team considered a running back by committee approach, and they also considered handing the ball to Chris Brown. The point of the matter is that there has been no real answer in Houston to finding a full-time running back that can carry this team to the playoffs.

Enter Arian Foster.

A few weeks ago Foster was having trouble staying off the inactive list. Heading into Week 14, Foster's name was being mentioned as someone who might get involved in the offense. Now that Week 14 is officially over, Dale Robertson of the Houston Chronicle says that Foster will be the featured back moving forward.

"We struggled to run the ball," (Gary) Kubiak said. "We're struggling across the board from that standpoint."

Rookie Arian Foster, who made his regular-season NFL debut, averaged only 2.6 yards on his game-high 13 carries, but Chris Brown's ineffectiveness and Moats' lost fourth-quarter fumble appeared to guarantee Foster will be showcased going forward with Steve Slaton's season having been terminated by nerve damage in his neck.

"We're fixing to pick it up big-time for (Foster)," Kubiak said.

Which Foster didn't mind hearing.

"Coming from where I came from," he said, "it's a very big opportunity and blessing, the fact that they trust me enough to even think of me in that manner."

Fantasy football owners are flocking to the waiver wire to sign Foster, an undrafted rookie free agent who has spent most of the season on the Texans' practice squad. My question is why. I understand the need to find the next Tom Brady -- a player who emerges to stardom after an injury displaced the starter. But this is different.

Foster has a job not just because Slaton went down, but because Moats can't hold on to the football and Brown isn't capable. It's not like Foster was the second choice for the Texans; he's a desperation play. And if you look closely at his stat line you'll see he ran for a horrid 2.6 yards per carry. On 13 carries he only gained 34 yards, and once he ran for 11 yards. That means on his other 12 carries he only amassed 23 yards. It is true he caught four passes for 54 yards, but that was against a Seattle defense that gave up 336 passing yards to Matt Schaub -- in the first half.

I applaud your efforts in waiver wire strategy. I think it's great that you signed Foster before anyone else in your league could tell you he played football at the University of Tennessee last season. I even hope that the move works out for you. Just temper your prognostications a bit and consider how many layers of suckitude had to be peeled before the onion we know as Arian Foster appeared.

Other Fantasy Football Notes

• Josh Looney of Chiefs Insider says that as long as Dwayne Bowe is in the game, he'll be the starter. Bowe has recently been reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after a four-game suspension for a violation of the league's banned substance policy.

• How's this for a kick in the crotch? JaMarcus Russell was a first-round draft pick and signed a $61 million contract with the Oakland Raiders. This season he was benched for Bruce Gradkowski, who has since gone down with a season-ending knee injury. Now, according to Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune, Russell might get passed on the depth chart by Charlie Frye. By my math, that would make Russell -- who makes a little more then $16 million this season -- the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart.

• Joshua Cribbs tallied 87 yards on the ground out of the wildcat offense in Week 14. Now Eric Mangini is considering making Cribbs a traditional running back, says the Associated Press.

• If you have Nick Folk as your fantasy kicker and he loses his job to David Buehler, who currently handles kickoff duties for the Cowboys -- as Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says might happen -- would you say Folk's fantasy values would be zero or less than zero?

• This may just be coach-speak, but Randy Covitz of The Kansas City Star is reporting that Jamaal Charles might have his workload lightened a little bit to make sure the running back stays healthy for the remainder of the season.

• Matt Maiocco of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported before the Monday Night Football game that Mike Singletary may be looking to get Brandon Jones more involved in the 49ers offense. It didn't work out as Jones didn't even catch a pass all night.