Fantasy football managers had high hopes for Houston Texans RB Dameon Pierce entering the 2023 NFL season after showing plenty of promise in his rookie year.
Despite the offense making huge strides across the board, Pierce was so ineffective as a ball carrier that he lost his leading role to Devin Singletary last year.
Now with Joe Mixon in the picture, what can fantasy managers expect from Pierce in 2024?
Dameon Pierce’s 2024 Fantasy Outlook
- Total Fantasy Points: 104.3
- Rushing Yards: 572.1
- Rushing TDs: 2.5
- Receptions: 18.2
- Receiving Yards: 111.7
- Receiving TDs: 0.4
These are PFN’s consensus projections, correct as of August 15. The most up-to-date projections can be found in our Who Should I Draft Tool.
Should You Draft Pierce This Year?
When you try to figure out exactly what went so terribly wrong for Pierce last year — where he produced just 517 total yards and two scores on 158 total touches for an RB55 finish in full-PPR formats — it is hard to describe it as anything other than disappointing.
Was Pierce dealing with some injuries? Yes. Was the offensive line also dealing with some injuries? Yes.
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Does this justify his awful 2.87 yards per carry? Absolutely not. He ranked dead last among the 49 running backs who saw 100+ carries in 2023.
Pierce simply didn’t get it done last year. There is no other way to put it.
This cataclysmic drop in per-touch efficiency unsurprisingly led to the Texans bringing in another running back this offseason, which just so happens to be Joe Mixon — who has topped 1,200 total yards and 9+ TDs in three consecutive years.
Mixon is a proven three-down workhorse who has been very productive as a goal-line ball carrier throughout his career. It is very difficult to project a meaningful fantasy role for Pierce entering his third year in the NFL.
Personally, I don’t see Pierce holding much fantasy value unless Mixon suffers some sort of injury. What’s worse, I can’t confidently say Pierce is the unquestioned handcuff to stash away because of his painfully apparent struggles last season.
Pierce’s ADP at No. 245 overall as the RB66 off the board essentially means he is going mostly undrafted at this time. His ADP falls in the same range as players like Keaton Mitchell, Kenneth Gainwell, and AJ Dillon. Respectfully, that is not the company you want to keep.
Despite Pierce’s rookie year taking place just two seasons ago, it feels like a foregone conclusion that his best fantasy days are in the rearview mirror.
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Yes, the addition of Mixon certainly projects to make him the second in line for meaningful work in this Texans’ backfield entering 2024. But he is still only a third-year player who has put forth some impressive reps on tape throughout his young career.
It is worth mentioning that Mixon has been dealing with some soft tissue issues throughout training camp, which has given some extra work to both Pierce and Cam Akers (who is a talented back in his own right who has dealt with injuries).
Unless you are in a crazy deep league, I don’t see enough upside in Pierce’s outlook entering this season to keep him on your fantasy bench entering Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season.