D’Onta Foreman waived; Houston Texans thin at running back depth

The Houston Texans made a surprise move on Sunday as they placed D’Onta Foreman on waivers, making a spot open on the running back depth chart.

Sunday has become a very busy morning for the Houston Texans, as it has been reported that they have released running back D’Onta Foreman before the first preseason game has even kicked off. Foreman was being projected as the second running back on the Texans depth chart by OurLads.com, but that has all changed with the recent roster move.

John McClain of the Houston Chronicle tweeted the roster decision by the Texans, as Foreman has been with the Texans organization since being drafted by the franchise in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

In two seasons with the Texans, Foreman played 12 total games (including playoffs) where he totaled 329 yards on 86 carries. This past season Foreman played in only one regular season game and the aforementioned playoff game. Though he did score one receiving touchdown in ’18, in ’17 Foreman also rushed for two touchdowns.

In his time with Houston, Foreman had to battle back from tearing his Achillies, which cost him basically all of last season, resulting in his career with the Texans never really taking off.

Now with Foreman no longer on the roster, the Texans still have Lamar Miller in the starters role, and others on the roster include Damarea Crockett, Josh Ferguson, Karan Higdon Jr., and Taiwan Jones.

That gives the Texans five running backs on the current roster, and earlier in the offseason the Toro Times wrote about how Crockett could make the roster this preseason. There is also Ferguson and Howell, who both bring very little in-game experience to the roster at running back.

Ferguson played two seasons with the Indianapolis Colts (2016-17), having 30 carries for 152 yards in a reserve role for 26 games played, plus Ferguson missed all of last season. Howell has yet to have a carry for the Texans in one season with the team.

Jones played the past two seasons with the Buffalo Bills, and before that spent six seasons with the Oakland Raiders. Jones in his career has played in 80 games, but has never made a start in a career that began in 2011.

The veteran running back Jones hasn’t had a rushing yard for a team in the league since 2015, as his final season in Oakland saw him have -8 yards rushing, followed with two consecutive seasons of zero yards rushing with Buffalo.

Higdon Jr. is a long shot for the Texans roster as an undrafted rookie free agent, but who knows what the franchise is thinking. He’s going to be a player to watch and see how many carries he receives in the four preseason games.

The Texans do seem to have some major issues with their running back depth, as Miller is the only sure thing at running back they have at the moment. The Texans must have been very frustrated to make the move in waiving Foreman, or they have a diamond in the rough already on the roster.

Houston could also make a move in free agency, or they could trade for another running back, but at the moment the Texans need to make the right choices at running back from here on out as it will have a huge outcome on their 2019 season.