Arian Foster Injury: Star RB Shouldn't See Field Until Completely Healthy

The Houston Texans horribly mismanaged the health of their star running back Arian Foster, and now they are dealing with the backlash of their decisions.

They have built a good core of players and have developed their system.

They have a franchise quarterback, a young and explosive defense, and arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL.

It seems like the Texans are on the up-and-up. They look like they can take control of the AFC South this year and get into the playoffs—and from there, it's just another step or two to the Super Bowl.

They did screw up one thing though, and hopefully it doesn't cost them in the long run.

The Houston Texans really made a bad decision with the way they handled Arian Foster.

Foster hurt his hamstring during training camp and has been hindered by the injury ever since.

He missed the season opener against the Indianapolis Colts, but was expected to recover by Week 2 for a rather beatable Miami Dolphins team.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that due to the nagging nature of hamstring injuries and the problems it has caused for Foster, sitting him against a beatable opponent would be a good idea.

It would give him another week to rest to come back 100 percent against the very tough New Orleans Saints, but now they are left dealing with the mess they made.

This was the route I was hoping the Texans would go with Foster, and I made it abundantly clear in a previous article I wrote leading up to the Miami game:

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There’s no reason to rush Foster back for a game in which they don’t need him.

Hamstring injuries have a tendency to nag a player throughout the course of a season, especially without adequate rest.

The Texans would be smart to let Foster sit out another week and continue to rest and heal.

If they don’t, it could come back to haunt them.

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Unfortunately for the Texans, they decided to play Foster, and he ended up re-aggravating his hamstring (or as the Texans called it, feeling “fatigued”).

Either way, the Texans could definitely use Foster in Week 3, but his status and participation in a game is still in question, according to Stephania Bell of ESPN:

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Foster's status is likely to come down to a game-time decision, but the most likely scenario appears to be that Foster will be active but very limited in his workload.

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If the team has learned anything, they should rest him until completely healthy; but the chances of that happening may be unrealistic considering they need his services.

The Texans have been doing everything right up until this point, so hopefully their mismanagement of Foster won’t come back to bite them.