The Houston Texans are now thin at the running back position. Here’s how they can change that very quickly and upgrade the position.
By now, you’ve heard the news that the Houston Texans have released running back D’Onta Foreman. This shouldn’t have necessarily been shocking news as Bill O’Brien didn’t necessarily offer up a positive endorsement of Foreman.
That decision leaves the Texans even more thin at the running back position, which is very concerning. It also means Lamar Miller will be the de facto every-down back again with the way the current depth at the position looks.
This isn’t necessarily the role that best suits Miller as he’s not exactly a workhorse, evidenced by the fact that he hasn’t played in a full 16-game season since arriving in Houston. Miller actually played in consecutive 16-game seasons prior to coming to Houston with the Miami Dolphins, so it can happen.
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We’ve also not heard anything about the Texans’ interest in a new contract for Miller despite him being in his contract year, but the Texans could drastically improve their offense and their running game with an addition of Melvin Gordon of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Gordon has become disgruntled with the Chargers over contract negotiations and has requested a trade. The Texans have over $40 million in cap space and have the money to pay Gordon the type of deal he could be seeking.
Gordon is two years younger than Miller and a better back overall. Gordon has had at least 50 receptions in each of the past two seasons, which Miller has actually never done in his seven-year career with Miami and Houston. Gordon has also had 28 rushing touchdowns in the last three seasons as compared to Miller, who has had 32 rushing touchdowns in his career. Gordon also had only 88 fewer yards than Miller despite playing in two fewer games than him.
Gordon would really help the Texans’ rushing attack, which ranked 20th in the league in rushing touchdowns last season. Gordon also averaged 5.1 yards per carry, which is a category in which the Texans ranked 19th in the league.
The Texans likely wouldn’t need to include Miller in a trade, as the Chargers seem to be quite pleased with their backfield behind Gordon. This was evidenced by Philip Rivers‘ comments lamenting how the Chargers have great depth aside from Gordon.
I would also think the Chargers would want to arrive at a solution sooner than later on Gordon, as they likely want to free themselves of the negativity surrounding Gordon’s holdout throughout training camp and the preseason. Even if the Texans did have to include Miller in a trade package, Gordon would still be an upgrade, but the duo forming a tandem would be quite dangerous.
Each of the two are great pass catchers out of the backfield, and playing together would keep each of them fresh as well. The Texans had the fourth-most rushing attempts in the league last season, so there would seem to be enough work to be had for both Gordon and Miller.
One of the challenges the Texans would face in such a situation is of course the fact that they don’t currently have a general manager, so we don’t exactly know who would be making that call or determining what exactly to send the Chargers.
It would seem that they would all agree on trading for such a player as Gordon. Hopefully they can make it happen because Gordon would be a natural fit in Houston, with or without Miller.