The Dolphins have signed Arian Foster. That severely damages the fantasy appeal of Jay Ajayi and Kenyan Drake -- at least if Foster is able to stay healthy. As for Foster himself, he's back on the list of potential running back difference-makers in fantasy leagues.
Granted, Foster's a 29-year-old running back trying to come back from an Achilles injury. He's missed 12, 3 and 8 games over the past three seasons, so he's not a great bet to stay healthy.
Then again, what running back can you look at around the league and say, This guy's not going to get hurt? LeVeon Bell and Jamaal Charles are both coming off injury. Adrian Peterson is a heavily-used back who turns 31 this month. Jonathan Stewart has a long injury history.
The list of "safe" running back picks is a short one. Most of them are old, coming off injury, will be in a new offense or ticketed for a committee. Foster is all of those things and a poor bet to stay healthy, but he's awfully productive when he does play.
The table below shows Foster's game-by-game numbers over the past three years. Tough to be sure he'll come back all the way from injury, or that he'll have a full-time role in Miami. But he shouldn't be overlooked by fantasy teams, either.
ARIAN FOSTER, GAME BY GAME, 2013-2015 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Opp | Run | Rec | Tot | TD |
2013 | @ SD | 57 | 33 | 90 | 0 |
2013 | TEN | 79 | 6 | 85 | 1 |
2013 | @ BAL | 54 | -2 | 52 | 0 |
2013 | SEA | 102 | 69 | 171 | 1 |
2013 | @ SF | 98 | 20 | 118 | 0 |
2013 | STL | 141 | 57 | 198 | 0 |
2014 | WAS | 103 | 17 | 120 | 0 |
2014 | @ OAK | 138 | 12 | 150 | 1 |
2014 | BUF | 6 | 55 | 61 | 0 |
2014 | @ DAL | 157 | 15 | 172 | 2 |
2014 | IND | 109 | 32 | 141 | 2 |
2014 | @ PIT | 102 | 13 | 115 | 1 |
2014 | @ TEN | 151 | 22 | 173 | 3 |
2014 | PHI | 56 | 63 | 119 | 1 |
2014 | TEN | 79 | 26 | 105 | 1 |
2014 | @ JAC | 127 | 21 | 148 | 1 |
2014 | @ IND | 99 | 18 | 117 | 0 |
2014 | BAL | 96 | 23 | 119 | 0 |
2014 | JAC | 23 | 10 | 33 | 1 |
2015 | @ ATL | 10 | 25 | 35 | 0 |
2015 | IND | 41 | 77 | 118 | 0 |
2015 | @ JAC | 53 | 59 | 112 | 1 |
2015 | @ MIA | 59 | 66 | 125 | 2 |
Average | 84 | 32 | 116 | 0.8 |
--Andy Richardson