Arian Foster is an interesting character, which has led to both criticism and praise in Houston. The dude can flat out ball, so he's obviously admired for being the best running back the Texans franchise has seen in its 11-year history. But he's also this cerebral guy who tends to think and act on his own accord, without any hesitation of letting the world know it.
Foster's injuries have brought cause for concern going into possibly the highest anticipated season in franchise history, with a calf strain holding him back from voluntary organized team activities, and some really vague back soreness keeping him out of training camp. Foster hadn't talked much about his injury riddled offseason until last week, when he got a bit snarky with a reporter who asked him how he was feeling.
But he did offer up some insight to Peter King at Monday Morning Quarterback, and suddenly it all makes sense. Foster pulled a Brett Favre on the Texans. Hell, Ed Reed might be doing the same thing. It's hard to get up for training camp when you already know you have a job, especially when that job includes having the most carries from 2010 to 2012. Dig.
“You ask any player: ‘How’d you enjoy the lockout season?’ Great time," Foster said. "You had a chance to train without [having to] practice every day. When you got back to training camp, everyone felt fresh. That’s exactly how I feel right now. Over the past couple of months I had the chance to just train and rehab and work on my body and didn’t have all those carries in training camp. Even during camp I got a long rest [because of the back injury]. It’s usually a grind. Now I feel fresh. I feel rejuvenated.”
"You get your body tired and worn down during training camp. When you don’t have that on you, you feel fresh. Getting some reps in practice, it does help you get your game ready. But when you get to a certain point in your football career, you know how to play football."
