Arian Foster is a fantasy football Hall of Famer

At his peak, Arian Foster, who announced his retirement Monday night, was the best fantasy football running back in the NFL.

From 2010 to 2012, the Texans running back scored 809 fantasy points - by far the most over that time. Adrian Peterson was his closest competitor with 715 points. If you drafted Foster in any of those years, you were guaranteed great production.

Foster's first season as a fantasy star was not only his best, it is easily the best fantasy year for a running back we've seen this decade.

Foster scored fantasy 315 points in 2010, per the Football Database. No back has hit the 300-point mark since - not even Peterson during his 2012 MVP campaign. Foster ran for 1,616 yards and 16 touchdowns to go along with 604 yards receiving and two more scores.

According to this study by data scientist Jesse Piburn, Foster's 2010 season is the 15th best fantasy year by a running back since 1970. Here is the top-15:

1. Ladainian Tomlinson, 2006
2. Marshall Faulk, 2000
3. Priest Holmes, 2003
4. Priest Holmes, 2002
5. Ladainian Tomlinson, 2003
6. Emmitt Smith, 1995
7. Marshall Faulk, 2001
8. Terrell Davis, 1998
9. Chris Johnson, 2009
10. Steven Jackson, 2006
11. O.J. Simpson, 1975
12. Edgerrin James, 2000
13. Shaun Alexander, 2005
14. Ahman Green, 2003
15. Arian Foster, 2010

What makes Foster's season so special is that it came out of nowhere. He did get some sleeper buzz in the preseason, but his average draft position was 59th, according to MyFantasyLeague.com. Twenty-four running backs had a higher ADP that year.

Foster is the only player on the list above who wasn't a top-10 pick on average. (We don't have ADP data on the pre-2000 players, but Simpson, Smith and Davis were all considered top backs heading into their great seasons.)

There's an argument to be made that 2010 Foster is the most valuable fantasy running back ever. Here's a list of the top-scoring back for every season since 2000, along with how many more points they scored compared to the No. 2 back in that season:

(Numbers courtesy of FFToday.com)

2000: Marshall Faulk (36.8)
2001: Marshall Faulk (63.8)
2002: Priest Holmes (49.1)
2003: Priest Holmes (28)
2004: Shaun Alexander (7)
2005: Shaun Alexander (28.5)
2006: Ladainian Tomlinson (84.8)
2007: Ladainian Tomlinson (20.5)
2008: DeAngelo Williams (7.5)
2009: Chris Johnson (56.4)
2010: Arian Foster (86.4)
2011: Ray Rice (14.4)
2012: Adrian Peterson (44.6)
2013: Jamaal Charles (31.7)
2014: DeMarco Murray (16.6)
2015: Devonta Freeman (11.2)

Only Ladainian Tomlinson, in the most productive fantasy season ever, even comes close to matching Foster's dominance over his fellow running backs. And Tomlinson was the top back taken in 2006, on average. If you didn't have the top pick in your draft, you weren't getting the Chargers star. Foster was available in the fifth round in most leagues in 2010.

Foster will not make it to Canton, but he is a first-ballot fantasy football hall of famer.