There was once a time when Schaub was on every fantasy owner's rader. That time ended a couple of years ago when the Texans became a run, run and run it again offense. Schaub's numbers haven't been awful, but with the Texans' run focused offense it is hard for us to imagine him being top 5 quarterback quality.
When Schaub went down two years ago, Yates (then a rookie) was called upon to lead the Texans offense. While his efforts on the field were good enough to lead the Texans to victory, they did little to help fantasy owners. While Schaub has been injury prone throughout his career, it would be better to snag a starter from another team than snag Yates as your fantasy backup.
At age 26, Foster is in the prime of his NFL career. In just 4 years we'll be looking for declining numbers and he'll slip from first in our drafts to 10th. For the time being Forster is healthy, in his mid 20s and playing in a run happy offense. There is little reason to believe he will not be one of the league's top 5 backs again this season.Update: One of the top picks in the draft is now dealing with a back injury. Have we seen this preseason Foster scare before? Yes and no. Last year it was a preseason hamstring injury that scared owners from Foster. Some lucky fantasy players stole him as late as 6 or 7 last season. This year, we've been waiting to see him on the field and Head Coach Gary Kubiak didn't do much to help us feel better. Foster has been dealing with back pain that has been "bothering him in his legs." This is not good news. We feel this injury has legitimate legs and we'd defer to other options in the first round. We've been down on Foster all summer due to the heavy workload he has experienced over the past few seasons. Very few backs can sustain that type of wear and tear over the long haul. Players like LeSean McCoy, Ray Rice and Trent Richardson all feel safer to us at this point. Don't let him slip into the second round or anything crazy like that, but proceed with caution.If we've said it once, we've said it 100 times: the Texans like to run the ball and run it they will. In their current setup, Tate spells Foster on third downs and picks up a few carries in garbage time. When given the opportunity, Tate performs well. Should Foster miss significant time, Tate would step into this run heavy offense and post very good fantasy numbers.
Currently, Jones (the Texans' top FB) is listed as the team's third running back option. For the time being this may be the case, but come week one we expect this to change. The Texans have 3 rookie backs on the roster and one of them will likely win the job as Tate's backup. Unless something happens to both Foster and Tate causing them both to miss valuable time, we don't feel there's much value this far down on the depth chart.
Johnson has been an elite receiver in the NFL ever since joining the league 11 years ago. With a solid run game and quality weapons at the tight end (and oppoite receiver position), we believe Johnson is due for another solid season this year. The only thing that is going to prevent Andre for posting top 5 numbers is an injury costing him significant playing time.
