The Texans have signed 29-year old fullback Justin Griffith.  Griffith played in 13 games for the Seahawks last season in which he carried the ball 4 times for 6 yards (1.5 ypc) and he also caught 19 passes for 118 yards (6.2 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Griffith has now played in 96 games in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 94 times for 413 yards (4.4 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 141 passes for 989 yards (7.0 avg) with 12 TD grabs.  Griffith is a solid blocker and he can contribute offensively with the ball in his hands which a lot of fullbacks in the NFL can’t say.  I like this signing for the Texans.

UPDATE:  (8/5/2010) – The Texans have placed Griffith on the Injured Reserve List ending his season due to a spinal chord concussion.

The Texans have signed 26-year old TE Derek Fine.  Fine played in 8 games for the Bills last season in which he caught 9 passes for 64 yards (7.1 avg).  He has now played two years in the NFL appearing in 18 games in which he has caught 19 passes for 158 yards (8.3 avg) with 1 TD grab.  This was a good signing for the Texans as Fine would likely benefit from playing with better QBs than he did his first two years in the NFL.

Steve Slaton, Arian Foster and rookie Ben Tate likely will start training camp on even footing giving all three of them a fair shot at being the featured back.  24-year old Steve Slaton had a neck injury last season that caused him to be ineffective running the ball and it might have led to his fumbling problem.  If he can get back to his rookie form he can win the starting job.  He played in 11 games (10 starts) last season for the Texans in which he carried the ball 131 times for 437 yards (3.3 ypc) with 3 TD runs and he also caught 50 passes for 377 yards (7.5 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has now played in 27 games (25 starts) in his NFL career in which he has carried the ball 399 times for 1,719 yards (4.3 ypc) with 12 TD runs.  Slaton has also caught 94 passes for 794 yards (8.4 avg) with 5 TD grabs in his career.  Even if Slaton wins the starting job the Texans would keep the other two backs heavily involved because he’s not a big guy.

23-year old Arian Foster was a undrafted free agent out of Tennessee last season.  He played in 6 games (1 start) for the Texans last season and he carried the ball 54 times for 257 yards (4.8 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  Foster also caught 8 passes for 93 yards (11.6 avg) last year.  Foster really played well last season for the Texans which gives him a decent shot at a lot of P.T. in 2010.

2nd round pick Ben Tate was a need pick for the Texans as they aren’t totally confident in Slaton or Foster being able to handle the featured role in a offense.  Tate has been exactly that at Auburn who plays in the best conference in college football.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE TEXANS RBs in 2010:  C

The Texans have released 27-year old RB Ryan Moats.  Moats played in 14 games (2 starts) for the Texans last year and he carried the ball 101 times for 390 yards (3.9 ypc) with 4 TD grabs.  He also caught 13 passes for 106 yards (8.2 avg) with 1 TD grab for the Texans last year.  Moats played in 23 games (2 starts) in his two years with the Texans and he carried the ball 127 times for 484 yards (3.8 ypc) with 5 TD runs.  He also caught 16 passes for 120 yards (7.5 avg) with 1 TD grab and he also returned 9 kickoffs for 212 yards (23.6 avg) for the Texans.  The Texans shouldn’t miss Moats too much with Arian Foster, Ben Tate and Steve Slaton set to handle RB chores in 2010.