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Arian Foster

New Dolphin awfully productive when healthy

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
YearOppRunRecTotTD
2013@ SD 5733900
2013TEN 796851
2013@ BAL 54-2520
2013SEA 102691711
2013@ SF 98201180
2013STL 141571980
2014WAS 103171200
2014@ OAK 138121501
2014BUF 655610
2014@ DAL 157151722
2014IND 109321412
2014@ PIT 102131151
2014@ TEN 151221733
2014PHI 56631191
2014TEN 79261051
2014@ JAC 127211481
2014@ IND 99181170
2014BAL 96231190
2014JAC 2310331
2015@ ATL 1025350
2015IND 41771180
2015@ JAC 53591121
2015@ MIA 59661252
Average84321160.8

--Andy Richardson

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