(Triumphant first post since returning from Iraq and figuring out where the hell the site went..lol)
In the interest of full disclosure, I own Foster in Outlaw County which is a VERY deep (16-team) Dynasty PPR league, and I got him off waivers in week 15 of 2009, so he cost me nothing and I freakin' love it!
I don't think there's alot of debate that in standard scoring redraft leagues, the consensus top-3 are Foster/AP/CJ, in some order. As far as Foster being the safest of the 3, why not? He's the only one with stability at QB, he's the only one who won't be facing 8 in the box (so to speak..) every single week, and he's the best of the 3 at receiving out of the backfield. The only thing missing from his repertoire right now is a track record, and I'm not about to downgrade him for that since he's only 25 years old with fresh legs and nobody that'll eat into his touches. (Tate is the injury handcuff, and that's all)
The beauty of Foster is that he maintains his lofty status in PPR leagues also with 65+ catches last year and nobody emerging in Houston to change that. A healthy Owen Daniels might knock that total down into the mid-50's, but that's still awesome considering Daniels never was a big TD guy, when playing at 100%.
The only guy I would even consider at all over Foster in a 2011 PPR league is Ray Rice, simply because he's a reception machine, and a feature back this year with -presumably- no McGahee which will help his previously lackluster TD totals.. The #3 guy in that format would be LeSean McCoy, with Charles at 4, and AP/CJ at 5 and 6 depending on who you like more. I love Charles' breakout potential but I'd like to see what he does with a legit workload as far as durability before I move him past the other dudes. And chunky Charlie is gone to FL, as well..
In the County scoring format, Foster was over 100 points ahead of the #2 RB, which was McCoy, and the #5 rated player overall. I'll roll the dice at #1/1 that he at least finishes as a top-3 RB, barring unforeseen injury.
