The Houston Texans have released Joe Mixon, clearing $8 million in cap space ahead of the March 11 league year and closing the book on one of the stranger injury situations in recent NFL history. The backfield that remains is more functional than people realize.
Houston didn’t wait for the release to get ugly. General manager Nick Caserio had already traded for David Montgomery from the Detroit Lions on March 2, surrendering a fourth-round pick, a seventh-round pick, and offensive lineman Juice Scruggs to secure a proven early-down runner. The message was clear well before Mixon’s release became official.
Texans RB Depth Chart for 2026 After Joe Mixon’s Exit
RB1: David Montgomery
He’s 28 years old, turns 29 in June, and carries a $6 million cap hit in 2026, per Over the Cap. In Detroit, Montgomery was squeezed out by Jahmyr Gibbs’ ascent, finishing with 716 yards and eight touchdowns on just 158 carries, career lows in both carries and rushing yards.
According to PFSN’s RB Impact Metric, Montgomery finished the season as the 31st-ranked running back in the league, while Gibbs was ranked 10th.
The reduced role wasn’t a performance decline; it was a usage decision. Montgomery now walks into a situation where he’s the featured back, and his bowling-ball running style is exactly what Houston’s offense has been missing.
RB2: Woody Marks
Woody Marks, who was selected in the fourth round of last year’s draft out of USC, led Houston’s backfield in 2025 with 703 rushing yards on 196 carries — averaging 3.6 yards per carry, which was inefficient but came behind an offensive line still sorting itself out.
The conversation around Marks has centered almost entirely on his early-down production, which undersells him. He caught 24 passes for 208 yards as a rookie. With Montgomery handling short-yardage and goal-line work, Marks has a clear lane to become a legitimate passing-down weapon. That’s where his ceiling actually lives, and the Montgomery trade creates the role definition he needs to reach it.
RB3: Jawhar Jordan
This is the part of Houston’s backfield that’s gotten almost no attention. The Louisville product spent most of 2025 on the practice squad before getting elevated in Week 15. He ran for 101 yards on 15 carries against Arizona in his NFL debut.
He followed that with 53 yards and five catches against Las Vegas the next week. Jordan is under contract for 2026, costs nothing against the cap, and gave Houston a glimpse of legitimate upside. He’s not a roster filler, but a back with 5.8 yards per carry in college who showed he can function when given volume.
What The Texans’ Backfield Can Actually Be
According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, Mixon requested a release. “Joe Mixon requested his release Thursday, per source, and was granted it today,” Schefter wrote on X. “The move saves the Texans $8 million against the cap.”
Most coverage of the Montgomery acquisition framed it as a straight replacement for Mixon: veteran power back, check. But that misses the architecture here. Montgomery and Marks aren’t just a feature-back-and-backup tandem. They’re a complementary pair with a defined skill split, and Jordan behind them provides real emergency depth that the Texans didn’t have when injuries hit in 2025.
The Texans were 22nd in rushing yards per game last season, and tied for 29th in yards per attempt. That wasn’t solely a personnel problem as the offensive line allowed the situation to deteriorate badly. Houston has already traded Tytus Howard and Juice Scruggs this offseason, so the line will look dramatically different. How much those changes help the run game will matter more than any single back.
The Texans have now done this three consecutive offseasons: trade or sign a veteran back in his late 20s to anchor the room. Mixon in 2024, Chubb in 2025, and Montgomery in 2026.
The pattern reflects a front office that doesn’t fully trust its developmental pipeline to carry the load on its own. Montgomery is the right solution for right now. Whether Marks develops into a legitimate RB1 by 2027, when Montgomery’s contract runs out, will determine if Houston’s backfield approach ever matures beyond this annual veteran acquisition cycle.
