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As if things in Texas couldn’t get any worse, Houston Texans’ Arian Foster will reportedly undergo groin surgery on Friday. The running back injured his groin during training camp, and he could potentially be out of commission for six to eight weeks, though the rest of the Texans are optimistic. “He is going to miss some time- there’s no doubt about that. We have no idea how much time he’s going to miss. There’s medical opinions that still need to take place,” Coach Bill O’Brien told the media.
In 2013, Foster was sidelined for most of the season due to a bulging disk in his back. He returned to the field last season and recorded 1,246 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Foster was sidelined again because of an injury, which prompted him to miss the 2015 Pro Bowl. The running back has worked really hard in the off-season in order to be ready for this season, and he has unfortunately been bit by the injury bug again. “One thing I want to say about Arian is, I feel bad for him personally. I think he came into this off-season and he really worked extremely hard- came back here and ran the conditioning test really well,” O’Brien said. He added,”He came back in great shape, and he was practicing well. But as a football team, it’s next man up.”
The Texans worked out a few running backs on Wednesday including Ben Malena, Joe McKnight, and Pierre Thomas. Late Wednesday afternoon, Pierre Thomas’ agent tweeted that the Texans and Thomas were unable to reach an agreement. Coach O’Brien made it very clear what type of running back the Texans are searching for. “We want someone that can do little bit of everything. We want a guy that can run the football in certain situations, catch the ball in the backfield, and help us on special teams,” the coach explained. There are several available running backs that the Texans may be considering: Knowshon Moreno, Chris Johnson, Steven Johnson, and Ray Rice are all free agents still looking to fill an NFL roster. For now, the Texans will rely on Alfred Blue and Chris Polk to take over the running back duties until Foster returns.