Ben Tate is the newest running back in Cleveland, which means that the Texans have lost the reliable complement to Arian Foster that they’ve had on hand for the last three seasons.
No one expected Tate to return to Houston, but his departure comes after a season that saw Foster end up on injured reserve because of a back injury. Foster had surgery in November on his back and the Texans have maintained that they expect him to be fine for next season. Late on Saturday night, Foster anounced that his doctors have the same view.
And for those wondering, I've been medically cleared by my doctor.
— feeno (@ArianFoster) March 16, 2014
That’s good news for the Texans, obviously, but it doesn’t eliminate the need for them to look for someone to play Tate’s role in the backfield. Ray Graham, Jonathan Grimes and Dennis Johnson are all currently on the roster, but it would be surprising if the Texans didn’t add at least one more back to the list of candidates to complement the heavily used Foster in 2014.