After a standout career with the Cincinnati Bengals, Joe Mixon’s arrival in Houston was highly anticipated as the Texans wanted to take the next step forward and build around C.J. Stroud. Mixon delivered last season, but the team around him ultimately faltered.
Entering the 2025 season with high hopes, the Texans needed Mixon to replicate the dominant play that earned him a second career Pro-Bowl selection last year. Instead, the offense has spent the entire summer without its star running back.
What Is the Latest on Joe Mixon’s Injury?
How did Mixon get hurt? Nobody outside the organization seems to know for sure. The star running back suffered a non-football-related injury during the offseason, which sidelined him for all of the team’s training camp and preseason.
While the specific details surrounding the incident remain private, the injury is confirmed to be related to Mixon’s ankle. The Texans recently announced that Mixon will remain on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list to start the year, meaning he must miss at least the first four games of the regular season.
However, there is a growing concern that Mixon may miss all or most of the 2025 NFL season. When Texans general manager Nick Caserio was asked if Mixon would suit up at all during the 2025 NFL season, he was noncommittal.
“We’ll see. We’ll take it one day at a time,” Caserio said, according to ESPN. “We’ll evaluate those players after four weeks and see where they are in their progression and then make a determination.”
In Mixon’s absence, the Texans’ running back duties will fall on the trio of Nick Chubb, Dameon Pierce, and rookie Woody Marks. It will be interesting to see how head coach DeMeco Ryans utilizes that combination to keep the offense humming until Mixon can return.
Last season, Mixon thrived and became the backbone of the offense, finishing the year with 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns while adding 309 receiving yards and a score through the air.
When Mixon does return, it will mark his first full-speed work since last winter. That layoff adds an extra layer of concern for a 29-year-old running back whose role is built on rhythm and short-area quickness.
Houston’s run game has been underwhelming in Mixon’s absence, and if the veteran running back misses the entire season, it will be tough for the Texans to make the playoffs.
Who Are the Texans’ RBs in Mixon’s Absence?
Without Mixon, the Texans’ backfield has focused on veteran Nick Chubb and rookie Woody Marks.
Marks hits the holes like someone is chasing him, while Chubb approaches the line of scrimmage with extreme caution. There’s a world in which the Le’Veon Bell approach works, but it’s not the world this iteration of Chubb lives in, and thus, the Texans are starting to pivot.
The rookie out-snapped Chubb 42-18 in the ugly Monday night game against the Seahawks, more than doubling his route and touch count in the process. He carried 10 times for 15 yards.
Marks’ role development is good to see, but all 15 of those yards last week came after contact and it looks like the Texans are playing down a man on every snap when it comes to attempting to block the opposition.
Houston struggles to block, and outside of two instances this season where the defense dialed up a blitz and Chubb happened to be designed a carry in the single gap they had (TDs of 25 and 27 yards), this year has been a slog for the 29-year-old (3.49 yards per carry without those two runs).
The Texans are motivated to see what they have in Marks, making this less of a committee and more of a bellcow situation. Reasonable minds can disagree if the lead job behind this offensive line is worth anything in the first place, but it’s pretty clear that the job is trending away from Chubb.
