With injured starter Joe Mixon uncertain to play in 2025, the Texans have interest in acquiring a running back before the Nov. 4 trade deadline, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com reports.
Mixon, acquired from the Bengals in March 2024, was certainly one of the Texans’ top offensive weapons during an AFC South-winning campaign last 12 months. He earned his second Pro Bowl nod after rushing for 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns on 245 carries over 14 games. Mixon also added 36 catches for 309 yards and one other rating.
The Texans have taken steps backward during a 2-4 start this season, they usually’ve gotten nothing from Mixon. The 29-year-old stays on the reserve/NFI list with a foot/ankle injury. There’s still no word on whether he’ll play this season. Regardless, the Texans could move on from Mixon within the offseason. Although they signed him to a three-year, $27MM extension after trading for him, none of his $8MM base salary for 2026 is guaranteed.
The Texans are months away from deciding Mixon’s future. Within the meantime, they’ll look to enhance a ground game that ranks a below-average 18th in yards per game (106.2).
Quarterback C.J. Stroud easily leads the team in yards per carry (7.3), though he has only totaled 20 attempts. Running back Nick Chubb has averaged a decent 4.2 per tote and added two touchdowns on a team-high 63 carries. Nonetheless, after an injury-riddled last couple of years in Cleveland, Chubb isn’t the workhorse he once was. The 29-year-old hasn’t totaled greater than 13 attempts in a game this season. He ran just five times for 16 yards in a loss to the Seahawks in Week 7.
Rookie fourth-rounder Woody Marks joined Chubb in struggling in Seattle. The Seahawks held him to fifteen yards on 10 tries, though he did pick up a receiving touchdown. Marks has scored three TDs (one on the bottom), but he has posted a meager 3.3 YPC on 46 attempts.
As for other in-house options, Dameon Pierce has fallen out of favor since a 939-yard rushing season as a rookie in 2022. The Texans have made him a healthy inactive 4 times this 12 months, including in Seattle. He has recorded just 10 carries in 2025, while Dare Ogunbowale and British Brooks have combined for 4.
With slightly below two weeks left until the deadline, no RB has come up in trade rumors greater than the Jets’ Breece Hall. The pending free agent ranks twelfth within the league in carries (99) and thirteenth in yards (448). He may very well be on the Texans’ radar.
As is the case with Hall, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Browns’ Jerome Ford head elsewhere soon. The previous Chubb backfield mate has taken on a diminished role this season with the emergence of rookie Quinshon Judkins. It will make sense for the Browns to maneuver Ford for the most effective offer.
Graziano points to the Dolphins’ Jaylen Wright as one other potential deadline acquisition. After rushing for 249 yards on 68 attempts as a rookie in 2024, Wright has played in only one game and hasn’t gotten a carry this 12 months. Wright has fallen behind rookie backup Ollie Gordon on the depth chart, which could lead on him out of Miami and maybe to Houston before the deadline.