Houston Texans: Preseason depth chart projection

Running Back: Lamar Miller, Jonathan Grimes

Arian Foster is now in Miami as the Dolphins needed a replacement for Lamar Miller, who will be the lead back for the Houston Texans. Miller is a dynamic back that can beat you between the tackles, on the edges and running pass routes out of the backfield.

He spent four seasons in South Beach, but was never really used like a three-down back. Instead, Miami often featured a committee approach and because of that the 25-year old comes to Houston with a lot of tread left on his tires.

Miller averaged 4.6 yards per carry during his time in Miami, which would be great for Houston since their most featured backs were under four yards per attempt. Alfred Blue managed just 3.8 yards per rush and Chris Polk had 3.4 as the primary backup.

Their lackluster work is the reason a new player is number two on this depth chart as Jonathan Grimes did well as a receiver out of the backfield for Houston but also had 282 yards on 56 carries. His average of five yards per rush was greater than Blue, Polk and the recently released Arian Foster who had just 2.6 yards per carry on 63 attempts.

Rookie Tyler Ervin may crack the lineup at some point as a third-down back, but should Miller go down, Grimes would be the smarter choice as the featured back in his absence.

Next: Receiver