January 4th update

Wednesday Spotlight: Arian Foster

• Houston Texans running back Arian Foster’s story is one of rags to riches. After a storied high school career in San Diego, Foster chose to attend the University of Tennessee. After a redshirt season, Foster became a 3-year starter for the Volunteers. He had an impressive career and after his Junior season, Foster was graded as a second round pick in the NFL draft, but he chose to come back to college to try and improve on that.
• A poor senior season, and various off the field issues, made Foster’s draft stock to plummet. A poor showing at Tennessee’s pro day (a day each big school has to showcase their draft eligible players) caused Foster to not get drafted in the 2009 draft. A free agent after the draft Foster decided to sign with the Houston Texans.
• After not getting much attention in his first season, Foster came on like gang busters in his second year. In Week 1 of the 2010 season he rushed for 231 yards (a franchise record) and didn’t look back. Foster won the rushing title (for the most yards) and made the pro bowl in 2010. A injured hamstring which he famously posted an MRI of on twitter, labeling the injured portion "anti-awesomeness" (That's the picture above in case you were wondering) slowed Foster down in 2011, but he still made the Pro Bowl. Foster is one of the best Running Backs in the NFL, proving that the draft is not everything.


Black Monday sees substandard activity

• The first day after the end of the football’s regular season is called Black Monday, due to the fact that it's when lots of teams who underperformed during the season start to clean house. Generally a handful of coaches are fired in the first few days of the offseason but this year’s activity has been a little lighter than normal, with some owners who were presumed to be putting their houses up for sale getting votes of confidence from their bosses.
• The St Louis Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin next season with new coaches as Steve Spagnuolo and Rahim Morris, respectively, were fired. The Rams went 2-14 this year and have only won 10 games in the past 3 years and the Bucs have not won since Halloween weekend, a big drop for a team that is only a year removed from barely missing out on the playoffs. St. Louis also fired their General Manager Billy Devaney and the Chicago Bears fired their GM Jerry Angelo. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the ousting of Indianapolis Colts Chairman and GM Bill and Chris Polian respectively. Bill Polian (father to Chris) was the architect of three winning franchises and he was grooming his son to take his place. Surprisingly, Colts owner Jim Irsay decided that after locking down the #1 overall pick in the draft, he wanted new personnel in his front office handling the future.
• Surprisingly a few coaches rumored to be on the proverbial hot seat were told they would be back next year. San Diego Chargers coach Norv Turner, whose teams continually underperform and Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid, whose star studded team thudded this season, were both given a reprieve for this year's disappointment.


NFL Draft begins to take shape

• The top of next year’s NFL draft has began to take shape. The teams that fail to make the playoffs will have the first 20 picks of the draft in order of their record (from worst to best). The Indianapolis Colts locked in their chance to draft Andrew Luck by losing this weekend. The St Louis Rams also lost and lock in the second overall pick. Since Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo was fired (as pointed out above) the door for a new QB to be taken atop the draft and for Sam Bradford to be traded might be opened.
• The rest of the top 5 will likely look like this: Minnesota Vikings at #3 (whose coach Leslie Frazier was not axed mainly because this was his first full season), the Cleveland Browns at #4 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at #5.
• As for the top candidates to be drafted, a number of underclassmen have either declared or are reported to have declared. In addition to Luck, USC offensive tackle Matt Kalil and Baylor QB Robert Griffin III have declared for the draft and are likely top-5 picks.