The latest on Arian Foster's hamstring injury

Aug 31, 2011
The latest on Arian Foster's hamstring injury

We've got some more info on the Arian Foster hamstring situation and wanted to get it out in front of any of you still drafting.

It all started this morning when Arian Foster tweeted his hamstring MRI photo. ESPN's John Clayton chimed in with his own medical opinion as well as Dr. Michael Kaplan who is apparently a staff doctor at ESPN. Dr. Kaplan believes the MRI shows Foster has a hamstring tear which would normally be a 3-4 week healing process, putting Foster back in NFL week 2 or 3. For what it's worth, a friend of mine who works at a hospital showed a doctor the MRI tweet photo and he also came back with the 3-4 week timetable. If any of you are doctors, we'd love to hear your take.

Now there's the other side of the coin which is Arian Foster who continues to insist it is nothing serious. Foster's mother also weighed in on this side of the coin. On top of that, Foster has been seen jogging on the side at practice and Texans coach Gary Kubiak doesn't seem overly concerned.

So what does it all boil down to? The situation sounds a bit worse than it did yesterday before Foster tweeted out his MRI photo. We still love Foster's upside, but we've moved him down to the RB8 range in both PPR and standard formats in today's rankings update. Darren McFadden actually looks like a safer pick than Foster at this point, as does a steady workhorse like the Steelers Rashard Mendenhall. We'll be sure to keep you posted, but for now we are advising to let Foster drop past you in the first round. If he continues to fall, he's worth a chance in the 2nd or possibly late first depending on your risk tolerance. Foster will still have value down the stretch even if he misses a couple of games.

For those of you who've already drafted Foster, the handcuff situation isn't clear. Veteran Derrick Ward seems more likely to lead the Texans in touches early on, but 2nd year back Ben Tate clearly has more upside as a more dynamic player.

In other news, the Titans and Chris Johnson haven't yet reached an agreement, but the vibe there is more positive than it was a few days ago. We expect a deal to be reached, but of course nothing is certain.

Happy drafting.

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