Fantasy Football Week 4 Projections: How Does Arian Foster Project?

Houston Texans running back Arian Foster claims his hamstring is fully healed, which means he plans on playing in Week 4 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That means bad things for Ben Tate owners, who might see him relegated to the bench as the NFL's leading rusher from 2010 returns to full-time action.

However, Foster may not return to carrying a full workload this week. Head coach Gary Kubiak has said he plans to bring his Pro Bowl running back along slowly. That makes sense, since Foster has missed a lot of practice and sat out two of the team's games thus far. Tate has also filled in admirably for Foster, so there is no need to force the No. 1 guy back into action.

If you have Foster, he's probably still a risky play this week. We have no idea what we're going to get from him this weekend.

The Steelers defense has underperformed against the run this season (99.3 yards per game allowed), but at the same time, it's not known how the Texans plan to split carries between Foster and Tate.

Foster played in Week 2 and didn't look great. He'd clearly rushed back from his injury and was only able to rush for 33 yards on 10 carries, with two catches for seven yards.

Meanwhile, Tate has been outstanding. The Auburn product has 66 carries for 301 yards and a touchdown to go along with five catches for 40 yards. He's been one of the NFL's most consistent backs so far this season.

Foster will likely start on Sunday and see more carries than Tate. Unless you're absolutely loaded at running back, he should be starting this week. We don't know what we'll get out of him, but he obviously has a high-upside against a Steelers defense that has been shaky so far this season.