Arian Foster to have surgery to repair undisclosed groin injury

Nov 2, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans running back Arian Foster (23) throws his helmet after a play during the third quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

In the first day of practice with pads, Arian Foster has a severe groin injury. It has been reported by multiple sources that he will be forced to have surgery. He will miss the rest of the preseason and most likely multiple regular season games.

It is likely that he will be put on the NFL PUP list and miss six games. He then would be reevaluated and could easily miss more games from that point on. He is expected to be back for the second half but it is uncertain.

The Houston Texans will lean on a committee approach in the mean time. Alfred Blue is the backup to Arian Foster but is debatably not the best running back on the team. Chris Polk was signed from the Eagles and is a bruiser. He stole goal line carries from Lesean McCoy and could be an intriguing player. Next is Jonathan Grimes who is viewed as the passing down back.

This is now the biggest competition on the team. Yes, even bigger than Mallett vs Hoyer because Hoyer has a decent sized lead at this point. It is very likely that the winner of the running back competition will bleed into the regular season.

This is obviously a huge blow to the Texans playoff chances. They need a strong running game to take pressure off of Hoyer or Mallett. This will be tougher with Arian sidelined.

For fantasy football purposes this could be a disaster. Arian Foster will be a high risk, high reward mid to late round pick. If he comes back strong, he will be a steal. The rest of the committee will likely cancel each other out.

Next: Houston Texans Playoff Chances