guys, it's not that you don't need a good RB. you do. the point is that there are literally 40-50 guys that would put up 1200 yds and 10+ TDs behind the better OLs in the league and/or with a good passing game to open up the offense. ridley might have a little more yardage and explosiveness than BJGE, but he largely just replicated BJGE's per touch production for the pats the last couple years.
there are a very very few elite RB talents that stand out above all others, peterson is the only one in the NFL right now, you could put him behind the worst OL in the league and i think he'd still put up 1000 yds. he's just on a different level.
foster has been great the last few years and put up good numbers, but i think a lot of that has been the product of his surroundings and sheer number of touches. i think if you stuck a couple of other RBs in the league on the texans with his touches the last couple years, they'd put up similar numbers, hell just look at what ben tate did when he was healthy and got more touches in 2011 on the same texans team. and think about how many backup RBs get plugged in for an injured starter and the offense and RB production doesn't miss a beat.
do you see what we are saying now? we aren't saying you don't need good production from the RB spot, we are saying you can find good production cheap and you are better off using a young cheap RBs and spending the extra $$ on OL, DL, QB, WR/TE, and CB. and RBs generally have a very short shelf life on top of that. the AD's and LT's and faulk's and payton's and OJ's are very few and far between.