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The Texans have reached an agreement on a five-year contract with running back Arian Foster. The new deal makes him one of the highest-paid running backs in the NFL.

According to NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora, Foster’s contract is a five-year deal with $43.5 million, with $20.75 million guaranteed, $18 million this year and $30 million over the first three years of the deal.

La Canfora says that in Foster’s case, “guaranteed” means guaranteed for skill, injury and cap.

As Profootballtalk.com's Michael David Smith notes, the $20.75 million guarantee is slightly less than the $21 million DeAngelo Williams got from the Panthers last year.

According to Houston Chronicle beat writer John McClain, general manager Rick Smith and vice president of football administration Chris Olsen have been negotiating daily with agent Mike McCartney on the long-term deal for Foster, who would have been a third-year restricted free agent.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Rick and Chris for getting this done,” McCartney told McClain. “Rick and I had kept up a good dialogue for the last two years. Then we started in earnest after the combine. We put our egos aside, and over the weekend, we got within striking distance.”

By agreeing with Foster, the Texans won’t have to franchise him.

Foster, who made $525,000 last season, rushed for 1,224 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. He caught 53 passes for 617 yards and two touchdowns and made the Pro Bowl for the second time despite missing nearly four full games with hamstring issues that plagued him throughout the preseason and the first month of the regular season.

In the playoff victory over Cincinnati and the loss at Baltimore, Foster was at his best with 51 carries for 285 yards and three touchdowns. He also caught eight passes for 51 yards.

His 285 yards rushing was a league record for a player in his first two playoff games.

Foster and Ben Tate were a monster one-two punch for the league's second-ranked (153 yards a game) rushing team. They combined for 2,166 yards and 16 touchdowns.

They helped the Texans lead the NFL with an average possession time of 32:41.

“As you can imagine, Arian is thrilled,” McCartney said. “He never talked about his contract. He handled it in a first-class way. I think the Texans made it a priority to reward that.

“Arian loves Houston and the team. He didn’t want to leave. I’m just thrilled for Arian.”

And Fantasy owners will be thrilled to learn one of the NFL's top Fantasy backs will remain in the same system in which he's achieved so much over the last two seasons.