Alfred Blue (RB, Hou) - Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add as bye-week flex play in 12-team leagues

OWNED IN: 60% of Fleaflicker Leagues

ANALYSIS: With Arian Foster out for the year with a torn Achilles tendon, Alfred Blue remains entrenched atop the Texans' stable of running backs. The problem here is that Blue, who owns just a 3.3 ypc average in 243 career attempts, just doesn't seem to attack the line of scrimmage with much conviction. He also doesn't seem to have much of a nose for the goal line, nor the first-down marker. His three career touchdown runs and rather pedestrian 42/243 first down-to-carry ratio (17.2 percent) supports the profile. There's even a Twitter account mocking Blue's lack of zeal: @zomBAlfredBlue, "Slow-staggering into the line since 2014."

Two weeks back against Tennessee, Blue did haul in five passes to pad his anemic rushing numbers a bit. Still, he hasn't had a run longer than nine yards since his stellar Week 3 performance against Tampa Bay (31 carries for 139 yards), which appears to be the exception to the rule.

This week, Houston does face a Cincinnati Bengals team curiously sporting the league's worst run defense in terms of yards per carry (4.9). But with the Texans' staff giving backfield mates Chris Polk and Jonathan Grimes more looks, and the Texans likely playing from behind against the Queen City Kitties' high-powered attack, Blue's ceiling is low.  If you need 7-10 extra points from your flex position and have no other options, go ahead and throw Blue in there. Just don't expect anything close to Week 3.