Texans at the beginning of the season

Arian Foster is, in my mind, the safe choice to be carrying the load for the Texans at the beginning of the season. He's the only back on the roster that had success in the NFL last year, and Gary Kubiak is, if anything, loyal. He proved that last year by his usage of players with the surname "Brown". Because of these two factors, as well as Foster being named starter going in to training camp, I think it'd take an injury or a massive explosion by one of the other two backs to unseat him as starter to begin the season.

Of course, I'm sure we'll see plenty of the other backs on the roster as well, no matter who the starter is. I think the safe money is on Ben Tate eventually usurping Foster sometime around mid-season. As much as I'm pulling for Steve Slaton, I just can't give him the benefit of the doubt on playing time Mario Williams until he's actually on the field. Neck surgery is a scary thing, and his peripheral vision could be at risk. I'm staying away from him until we see him in a preseason game.

I just realized that I made an error in my July 28 note on Jackson. I said he ran for less than 1,400 yards last season. Shows how good my proof-reading is. He ran for 1,416. I meant to say more. Whatever. Jackson is still the lone proven threat in the Rams' offense. And while it's nice to hear that he is healthy now, it's a lot different than being healthy in December. Jackson hasn't played 16 games in a season since 2006. Keep that in mind before you draft him. I think he's a first-rounder, but I wouldn't take him before pick No. 8. I have more faith in the seven running backs before him and I would slip Andre Johnson in there as well.

To me, this reads like they're going into training camp with Studdard at left guard, Caldwell DeMeco Ryans at right guard, and Smith at center. I would give Studdard the highest odds to be a starter next year, despite how poorly I thought he played, because he started more games than Caldwell last year and has the attitude the Texans love. I wouldn't be altogether surprised if anyone ends up starting or benched, but I think Smith is going to be in the lineup. He's the only one listed as a G/C on the roster, and of course, money talks. Ultimately, I think they'd be best with Caldwell at left guard, Smith at center, and a healthy Brisiel at right guard. But I'd bet on Studdard-Smith-Caldwell.

John McClain recently tweeted that he thought this was Adibi's job to lose. I'm not so sure. For one thing, while he was technically the linebacker with the fourth most snaps last year, he was essentially buried and only got on the field 31 times. Secondly, if the Texans were comfortable enough with him to hand him the job unchallenged, they would have never signed Clark in the offseason.

At any rate, Adibi wasn't exactly a plus run defender coming out of Virginia Tech,Brian Cushing  and Clark spent most of the year as a two-down linebacker with the Giants. I think the plan will probably be to platoon the two of them. Clark on run downs, Adibi on passing downs, and Sharpton on the bench should something happen to either of them. This, of course, technically makes Clark the starter. I wouldn't completely rule out Sharpton as the starter either, but I haven't seen enough of him to really judge how well he'd do. I think he's got some walls to climb to get there anyway.