After a stellar stint with the Cincinnati Bengals, Joe Mixon’s arrival in Houston brought high expectations as the Texans aimed to elevate their offense around C.J. Stroud. Mixon lived up to the hype in his first season, earning a second career Pro Bowl nod, but the team’s late-season collapse left plenty to prove entering 2025.
This year, however, things haven’t gone according to plan. The Texans have spent the entire offseason, training camp, and the first seven weeks of the regular season without their star running back, whose mysterious injury has kept him sidelined far longer than anticipated. Questions continue to swirl around Mixon’s health, recovery timeline, and whether he’ll play at all for the Texans this season.
How Long Will Joe Mixon be Out?
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 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.
Fantasy Outlook for Texans’ Backfield
Here is what PFSN’s Kyle Soppe wrote on the fantasy outlooks of the Texans’ running backs:
Nick Chubb
Two chunk-play touchdowns this season are why I believe that Nick Chubb still garners interest from the Texans and fantasy managers, but it certainly feels as if he is on borrowed time.
Houston went back to the veteran in Week 5, even after a strong showing from rookie Woody Marks, and a 27-yard touchdown, which was otherwise an awfully ordinary game in a great spot in Baltimore (10 carries for 34 yards and zero receptions).
Entering the Week 6 bye, there were 43 running backs with at least 30 rushing attempts, and none of them saw a higher percentage of their rushing yards come before contact (45%) than Chubb (league average: 26.4%). That’s an alarming stat for two reasons: (1) he’s not creating much for himself, and (2) this offensive line isn’t any good.
The 29-year-old has over 1,500 touches on his NFL resume, and while he’s shown slightly more burst at times this season than I expected, I still don’t think he’s a viable fantasy option long-term.
Woody Marks
Well, this is awkward. We all assumed that Marks was the RB1 in Houston after a strong showing against the Titans in Week 4 (21 touches for 119 yards and two scores), where he played 12 more snaps than Nick Chubb and seized the opportunity.
But in Week 5, it was something of a split that even leaned in the direction of the veteran early (8-4 carry edge in Chubb’s favor in the first half) before the 44-10 win over the Ravens got out of hand (neither RB played even 38% of the Texans’ offensive snaps when all was said and done).
This feels a lot like New England. That is, a situation where I feel confident in who will be getting the bulk of the work in December, but I’m not exactly sure when we see things flip. Marks is a clear hold at the moment, but he’s just as clearly a bench player given that we don’t have any assurance he’ll touch the ball 10 times this week.
In Week 7’s loss against the Seattle Seahawks, Marks had 10 carries for 15 yards, while Chubb had five carries for 16 yards.
Joe Mixon
PFSN’s Jason Katz wrote this about Mixon’s fantasy outlook amid concerns around the star running back’s availability for the season:
With Mixon sidelined indefinitely, the Texans have established a backfield rotation between Nick Chubb and rookie Woody Marks. Chubb has emerged as the clear leader through seven games, pacing the team in carries, rushing yards, touchdowns, and snaps.
Caserio praised Chubb’s efficiency during recent interviews, noting he is “a very efficient runner” with “good vision” and “good balance,” while adding there “haven’t been a lot of negative runs with him on the field”. The former Cleveland Browns standout has recorded 58 carries for 249 yards and two touchdowns so far this season.
Marks has shown flashes of potential and could eventually work his way into the lead role over the course of the season. Through six weeks, the rookie logged 233 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns on 42 total touches, providing more upside in PPR formats due to his pass-catching ability.
The backfield dynamics may continue evolving, but the expectation should be that Chubb and Marks form a committee approach for fantasy purposes. Chubb operates as a touchdown-dependent RB3 option, while Marks provides more upside due to his receiving skills.
Should Mixon eventually return to full health, he would theoretically resume his workhorse role given his three-year contract extension. However, that possibility grows increasingly unrealistic with each passing week. Fantasy managers who drafted Mixon should maintain zero expectations that he will contribute fantasy value in 2025.
