Fantasy Football drafts are in high gear, and Mark Ingram II should be the one Houston Texans RB you pick.
While the Houston Texans don’t have the greatest of fantasy football options, there is one player that you should feel safe taking a late-round flyer on. That is indeed Mark Ingram II, who recently signed with the team during free agency. After spending the last two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Ingram should produce well for the Texans and your fantasy squad.
The first reason is that the man listed ahead of him on the depth chart is David Johnson, a player who hasn’t been relevant since 2015 in his lone breakout season with the Arizona Cardinals. Ever since that season and his year-ending wrist injury in week one of the 2017 season, it was absolutely criminal to accept him in the DeAndre Hopkins trade.
Mark Ingram II has a big difference that should convince you to pick him up
Mark Ingram II has been a more productive and reliable runner since he came into the league in 2011. Ingram II holds a distinct advantage in red-zone touchdowns in his career over Johnson- while yes, 4 years difference will obviously help that number. Regardless of that, Ingram II has 54 touchdowns when given the ball in the red zone. Here are his career splits below:
| Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Split | Value | Att | Yds | Y/A | TD | 1D | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | 1D | Ctch% | Y/Tgt |
| Own 1-20 | 232 | 1118 | 4.8 | 0 | 38 | 55 | 46 | 296 | 6.4 | 0 | 11 | 83.6% | 5.4 | |
| Own 21-50 | 615 | 3189 | 5.2 | 2 | 154 | 139 | 106 | 794 | 7.5 | 0 | 39 | 76.3% | 5.7 | |
| Opp 49-20 | 484 | 2275 | 4.7 | 6 | 108 | 91 | 72 | 676 | 9.4 | 3 | 33 | 79.1% | 7.4 | |
| Red Zone | 276 | 838 | 3.0 | 54 | 84 | 44 | 40 | 148 | 3.7 | 7 | 12 | 90.9% | 3.4 | |
| Opp 1-10 | 162 | 305 | 1.9 | 43 | 57 | 15 | 13 | 39 | 3.0 | 5 | 7 | 86.7% | 2.6 |
Ingram has proven that it doesn’t matter what team he’s on, he’s going to get the workload when it mattered most. Meanwhile, Johnson’s splits are here at this link, you can see that Ingram II, an Alabama product is clearly the superior player at the position.
With the Texans trading for Anthony Miller, it helps take some pressure off of the run game. You can argue who is a better pass-catching back between Ingram II and Johnson-that’s fine.
If you’re looking for a deep stash player or a post-draft pickup, then Mark Ingram II should be on your radar, based on that red zone split alone.