With one game left in the NFL regular season, it’s no secret that the underwhelming 2-13-1 Houston Texans, aren’t having the greatest of campaigns. One bright spot in this disaster, however, is that of the star rookie running back Dameon Pierce.
Pierce was top 10 in the NFL for total rushing yards on the season before suffering an ankle injury in week 14 against the Dallas Cowboys. Despite being on the IR, and missing the rest of the season, he is still currently 12th in the league in total rushing yards.
These numbers are extra impressive when you take into account the fact that the Houston Texans this season average 88.9 rushing yards a game, third worst in the NFL, with Dameon Pierce being 72.2 of those yards per game ( in the 13 games he has played this season, he has 939 yards rushing on the season, which comes out to 72.2 per game ).
The point is, Dameon Pierce is good at football, like really good. As a rookie, this is exactly what you love to see as a Houston Texans fan going forward. Once we draft a QB in 2023, we might be one step closer to having the young core needed for a good solid rebuild.
There is one issue however, assuming we in fact start a rookie QB fresh from the draft next season, it is very likely that an already injured Pierce could re-aggravate said ankle injuries in the future if he carries the ball too much and takes too many hits. This is because at the start of next season, it would be wise to run the ball even more to ease the new rookie into the NFL.
Houston Texans moving forward
My counter argument to this would be to simply give the extra handoffs to a guy like Rex Burkhead, or any other running back that would still be on the roster next year. Worst case scenario, you can for sure find another runner capable of being at least a decent second option in the backfield behind Pierce through free agency.
After a while, the hypothetical rookie QB would get into the rhythm of being an NFL QB, then going on to help us rebuild as a team back into what we were pre-COVID, and before the disastrous DeAndre Hopkins trade for David Johnson in 2020.
Look, the point is that barring any major injury or wear and tear to the young star, we might have the next great Houston Texans running back of the future wearing our team’s jersey right now as we speak. Time will indeed tell all, but the preliminary results are looking great for the young man so far.