Constant Dings to Arian Foster, Johnathan Joseph Are Trouble for Texans' Future

The Houston Texans aren't a very good football team right now. They're the kind of team that can force four turnovers, face three quarters of Mark Sanchez and still lose.

The Texans have been able to scrounge together a few wins because, unlike most bad teams, they have star power. Defensive end J.J. Watt is the obvious headliner, but running back Arian Foster, wide receivers Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins and defensive back Johnathan Joseph are top-level NFL talent who would carry any team.

These players carry the team through disasters like "Brian Cushing being unable to move laterally," or "D.J. Swearinger attempts a shoulder tackle for the 10th time this quarter." 

But while Hopkins is still rising and Watt seems capable of doing just about anything, Foster and Joseph are at the age where teams hope they hold their abilities rather than improve them.

Foster and Joseph have also spent most of this year subbing in and out of games with various injuries. After a groin injury took Foster out and a concussion felled Joseph, the soft underbelly of the Texans roster was exposed by the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Rookie seventh-round corner Andre Hal teamed up with Swearinger to leave Jeremy Maclin wide open on a 59-yard touchdown to open scoring. While young cornerbacks A.J. Bouye and Jumal Rolle both secured turnovers and Bouye took his back for a pick-six to tie the game, they both also had several breakdowns in coverage that allowed Sanchez to throw for over eight yards an attempt.

Without Joseph and fellow starting corner Kareem Jackson (who was also injured early in this game), Houston lost its only defensive backs who could actually cover. The Eagles secured this game by running over a weak back seven who tackled like lawnmowers, but they were able to get ahead in the first place and put a dagger touchdown to Maclin in at the end of the game because the Texans couldn't stop Sanchez. 

Similarly, when Foster left during the third quarter, he took Houston's offense with him. Foster scored on a 56-yard wheel route over Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin. The only other offensive points Houston mustered were after DeMeco Ryans went down with a non-contact injury after an interception, fumbling the ball back to the Texans at the Philadelphia 7. 

Player	Age	2012 Snap Pct.	2013 Snap Pct.	2014 Snap Pct.
Arian Foster	28	73.7%	29.2%	66.9%
Johnathan Joseph	30	77.6%	81.6%	80.0%

Regardless of how you see the future playing out for Joseph and Foster as far as remaining elite talents, the fact of the matter is that it's hard to trust NFL players who can't stay on the field.

Coaches can't build a game plan around guys who tweak a new portion of their body every week. There's nothing an NFL team detests more than an unreliable player, and if Houston's best players aren't reliable on a weekly basis, that's a big debit on their total value to the team. 

Houston's roster is at a crossroads right now. The promising 2011 Texans core is showing its age, and of the picks made over the past three years that were supposed to become the new core, Houston only has Hopkins and guard Brandon Brooks to show as above-average players thus far.

That could change, as outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney has barely played yet, and it's much too early to write off the 2014 draft. But promise is not production.

In the interim, the Texans are relying on players with limited ceilings. Linebackers Mike Mohamed and Justin Tuggle will never be stars. On a better team, they'd probably be bench players. On the Texans, they are starting linebackers. On the Texans, waiver claim Damaris Johnson can come in and immediately play over incumbents like Keshawn Martin and DeVier Posey.

This is what a bad top-to-bottom roster looks like: Turnover is always around the next corner when evaluation failures pile up. 

Heading into its bye, it's increasingly likely that this Texans team has failed in its mission to be competitive in the AFC playoff picture. Even with the San Diego Chargers in free fall, the Texans haven't showed any reason to believe they can compete with the better teams in the conference for the last two playoff spots. 

Houston needs a new quarterback. Houston needs a new middle linebacker. Houston needs a better tight end. Houston could use upgrades all over the roster. 

But one thing that the personnel brokers on this team need to decide is what they can expect out of Foster and Joseph. The cap space and draft picks aren't going to line up in a way where Houston can easily replace everyone this offseason, but Foster and Joseph have shown that if Houston is going to continue to rely on them, it needs better backup plans in place for the next inevitable limp-off. 

Rivers McCown is the AFC South lead writer for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Three-Cone Drill podcast. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.