Just How Good Can Arian Foster Be in 2011?

Arian Foster burst onto the national scene last season, stunning everyone on his way to becoming the NFL rushing leader in 2010. Foster, an undrafted free agent after a mediocre career at Tennessee, was signed to the Houston Texans practice squad in 2009 and did not even debut for his team until the last four weeks of 2009. 

Foster might have not gotten a real chance to start if it were not for an injury to Steve Slaton, the starting running back in 2009, a shifty, electrifying player out of West Virginia. Slaton's injury in Week 1 last season brought Foster into the game against the Indianapolis Colts. Although the Colts do not have the best rushing defense in the league, they are still a talented group and have helped the team to yearly playoff runs. 

Foster proceeded to tear up the Colts on his way to 231 yards on that beautiful Sunday afternoon, and only got better and more refined as the season progressed. Foster finished with 1,616 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns, averaging more than 100 yards and a touchdown a game. 

Only three times in the entire season did Foster not go above 100 yards from scrimmage in a game, and he stunningly only had three fumbles on the entire season. Three fumbles in almost 400 touches, when you include his almost 70 receptions. 

Is it a safe bet to say that Foster will only continue to improve on his breakout season, and average even more than the 4.9 yards a carry he averaged before? Most are skeptical that he will be able to keep up that production, and I am one to think that he will suffer from a bit of a sophomore slump.

If Foster's career at Tennessee foreshadows anything, Foster had a phenomenal freshman year, turning heads all around Knoxville. After that, he struggled to stay healthy his sophomore year and only gained about 400 yards. His junior year Foster responded with his best season, rushing for basically 1,200 yards and scoring 14 touchdowns overall. 

However, the reason he was not drafted was because of a disappointing senior campaign, where Foster was benched multiple times and only finished with 570 rushing yards. 

Therefore, it is concerning to think that Foster will keep up his productivity. I think that Foster will still get to 1,000 yards this season, but he might go through some struggles and some spells of ineptitude.

His lingering hamstring injury is also cause for a bit of concern, but Foster is confident to be back on the field this weekend. 

Foster is going to be a talented running back for the Texans for many seasons, but expecting a repeat performance is just out reach for him. 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns seem a lot more reasonable and rational for Foster this season, which will still makes him a serviceable starter. 

With the depth of the Texans running back corps, which includes Steve Slaton, Ben Tate, Derrick Ward and Chris Ogbonnaya, Foster shouldn't have to take the entire load by himself anyways. 

Whatever the case is, Foster will be exciting to watch in 2011, as the Texans try to overcome the hurdle of the Indianapolis Colts and fight their way into their first postseason in franchise history.

Be sure to follow BleacherReport's coverage of the Texans all season long for updates and analysis.