Arian Foster Released By Houston Texans, Possibly Signing With Denver Broncos

Denver Broncos vice president John Elway just won his first Super Bowl as an executive, but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to relax now. As competitive as he is, Elways wants to start building a team that can win him another one. He’s going to rebuild the Broncos, and one of his targets will be a running back. According to NFL.com, recently released Houston Texans running back Arian Foster could become a perfect candidate for Denver.

For much of the past year, everyone has been wondering about the retirement of Peyton Manning, even though he has consistently been telling people that a decision has not been made. Some within the Denver Broncos are already planning for the following season under the assumption that the legendary quarterback will not be coming back. That means that John Elway will have to build the team around the vision that Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak has in mind.

When it comes to winning in the NFL, Gary Kubiak is a bit old school. He believes in relying on a dominant defense and a strong running game. A quarterback that can win games on his own is basically just a bonus, as Kubiak is just fine with having a game manager underneath the center. Gary knows that there aren’t a ton of franchise quarterbacks in the National Football League, so he’s more than willing to lean on good running backs.

Gary Kubiak had a pretty good running back when he was the head coach of the Houston Texans. To say that Arian Foster was a good player for the Texans is a bit of an understatement, as he is the leading rusher in the history of the franchise. Matt Schaub was close, but Kubiak never had a franchise quarterback when he was running things in Houston, so Foster was his security blanket for much of the time.

With Peyton Manning presumably gone, the Denver Broncos are going to need security blankets from the ground game. Ronnie Hillman is a free agent, and there are reasons to believe that another team in the NFL is going to lure him away with a contract that the Broncos might not want to match. CJ Anderson is a good running back, but John Elway and Gary Kubiak definitely do not want him to carry the load on his own.

By signing Arian Foster, the Denver Broncos won’t need CJ Anderson to carry the burden of the running game on his own. The tag team of Foster and Anderson would mean that the quarterback won’t have a ton of pressure to produce. Brock Osweiler is a free agent right now, but many believe that he will be back with the Broncos. Being able to pass the ball off to Foster and Anderson would make life easier on Osweiler, who might have extra pressure because of the big contract he’s expected to sign.

From a schematic standpoint, Arian Foster would be a great fit for the Denver Broncos. He became a star in the zone blocking scheme that Gary Kubiak installed with the Houston Texans. He uses the same system for the Broncos. Plus, Foster is one of the better pass blocking running backs in the NFL. That should make life a lot easier for Brock Osweiler, who is still learning how to be a starter on a full time basis.

There’s a ton of things that John Elway has to do right now. On top of that list is Von Miller, a big reason why the Denver Bronocs were able to stymie the offensive juggernaut known as Cam Newton in the Super Bowl. However, Elway needs to make sure that he’s not too busy to overlook the signing of Arian Foster.

[Featured Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images]