Arian Foster signing with the Miami Dolphins
According to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport, veteran NFL running back Arian Foster is going to sign with the AFC East's Miami Dolphins. Foster had spent his entire seven-year NFL career with the Houston Texans (2009-15) since going undrafted out of the University of Tennessee.
RB Arian Foster is signing with the #Dolphins, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 18, 2016
The #Dolphins deal for Arian Foster is 1-year, per @MikeMcCartney7. Miami had been trying to add a veteran presence & more competition at RB
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 18, 2016
Miami lost 2015's starting running back Lamar Miller to the Texans in 2016 NFL free agency. Under first-year head coach Adam Gase, the Dolphins desperately needed to upgrade their running game to give franchise quarterback Ryan Tannehill a fair shot to lead this team to victory in 2016.
Signing Foster at least gives the Dolphins a big name in their backfield, but will it be enough to help Miami get out of mediocrity this fall? Foster tore his Achilles in Week 4 of the 2015 NFL season against the Dolphins and missed the rest of the campaign for the Texans. While Houston won the AFC South for the third time in five years, the Texans moved on from their former star tailback by releasing him on March 3rd before free agency began.
Foster is the franchise-leading rusher for the Texans in both yards (6,462) and rushing touchdowns (54). He is a four-time Pro Bowler (2010-12, 2014) and was an All-Pro in 2010. At 30 years old in 2016 and coming off a ruptured Achilles, is Foster the right fit for the Dolphins at this time?
Given that it is a one-year deal for the Dolphins, it's not a huge gamble for them to undertake by signing Foster before training camp. However, if Gase believes that he will be getting the Pro Bowl caliber running back Foster was for the Texans for years, he and the Dolphins will be sorely mistaken.
