Ben Tate Needs to Stop Milking Injury

The hamstring injury, scourge of training camp. Rookies get them, veterans get them, and it's wise for those suffering from them to take some time off of the practice field.

At the worst, it prevents a rookie or free agent from getting the necessary snaps to distinguish himself from the rest of the roster. At best, it allows a veteran to bow out and allow second- and third-stringers to impress the coaching staff.

But, at some point, those suffering with a hamstring must return to practice and become a fully-functioning member of the team.

Not so, with Houston Texans running back Ben Tate. Tate, who was drafted by the Texans last year but has never played (he broke his leg and damaged ankle ligaments in last season's first preseason game), is a second-year rookie on a team with a glut of running backs.

Aside from Tate, the running backs the Texans currently have on their roster include starter Arian Foster, Steve Slaton, Derrick Ward, Chris Ogbonnaya and Javarris Williams. Foster and Slaton also are nursing hamstring injuries; the three were not active in last night's preseason opener against the New York Jets.

Tate's injury, which is making head coach Gary Kubiak openly impatient, means that in a roster deep with running backs, he doesn't get a chance to make an impression on his coaches. If he hopes to still be a Texan when the regular season opens, preseason playing time and practice time is the only way to get it done.

Foster and Slaton are known quantities, and backs the Texans are certainly going to keep going into the season. Their hamstring injuries matter less, because Kubiak knows what their production looks like.

In contrast, he hasn't been able to see how Tate works since last training camp, and how well his leg has healed from his injury a year ago. And if he doesn't see Tate on the field, and soon, it would make sense if he ends up cut.

In last night's game Ward was pulled with a head injury. In his place went Ogbonnaya, who had a respectable, though not splashy, night: he rushed 17 times for 37 yards and one touchdown, and had six receptions for 67 yards and one touchdown.

Though Ogbonnaya may not end up on the Texans' final roster either, at least he made clear to his coaches that he can pick up a few good yards and, more importantly, score touchdowns. This is more than they know about Tate.

If, like Kubiak said about whether Tate is healed enough to go, "Everybody thought he could – our trainers, our doctors – but he hasn’t," then it would behoove Tate to get on the field. If the trainers and the doctors have cleared him, then Tate's issue is that his hamstring has gotten into his head.

Hamstring injuries aren't a joke; they are painful, and if not properly healed, they can return again and again, plaguing a player's career. It makes sense that Tate is feeling a bit skittish returning from this injury; I'm sure there is a bit of a nagging fear in his mind of not just pulling the hamstring again, but it precipitating another devastating, season-ending injury like he experienced last year.

There are no roster spots guaranteed for a second-year running back who missed his entire rookie season. Tate needs to get back to work—if he continues to sit out, it looks like this hamstring could end his season as well.