One of the most bizarre storylines of the entire 2025 NFL season came out of Houston, Texas, where Texans running back Joe Mixon was sidelined all year long with a foot/ankle injury that is still something of a mystery. There's been no indication of when or how this injury occurred -- Mixon was placed on the non-football injury list -- and at every turn, anyone affiliated with the Houston Texans who was asked about Mixon's status for the 2025 season seemed just as clueless as everyone else.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but Mixon's absence for the entire 2025 campaign certainly played a role in why the Texans offense sputtered so often. Although Mixon doesn't sit in the top tier of the league's best running backs, he provided the Texans with a steady and reliable presence in the backfield during the 2024 season, rushing for 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns in his first, and so far only season in Houston, which was the fifth 1,000 yard campaign of his career.
Now that the season is over, any questions of whether Mixon will return could be pushed all the way to next September, nearly nine full months from now. One would assume that by then, Mixon should be fully recovered from whatever injury it was that cost him an entire season, but based on what Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans told member of the media on Monday, that doesn't sound like a certainty by any means.
“As of right now, I don’t know that answer right now. No clarity,” Ryans responded when he was asked if Mixon will return for the 2026 season. "Joe, he’s a really great running back for us and not having him, yes, of course, it affected our running game. Joe is one of the top running backs in this league. That affected us.”
Even though Mixon's numbers don't necessarily jump off the screen, DeMeco Ryans is 100 percent right about the fact that not having Mixon affected Houston's ability to run the ball. In 2024, the Texans ranked 15th in the NFL in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and yards per rush, largely due to the fact that Mixon's super power in the backfield seems to be consistency. In 2025, behind a committee of backs that included Woody Marks, Nick Chubb and one big game from Jawhar Jordan, the Texans ranked 22nd, 27th and 29th in those same three categories respectively.
With a passing attack that went through spells of inefficiency and incompetence, not being able to fall back on a reliable, albeit unspectacular ground game was worst case scenario for the Texans.
Could the Texans find their answer in free agency?
According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston, it's considered 'likely' that the Texans will move on from Mixon during the offseason. The 29-year-old back is due a nonguaranteed $8 million in 2026, which opens the door for the Texans to cut Mixon this offseason without any sort of hit financially. But that won't solve Houston's running back problem.
Woody Marks put forth a somewhat encouraging rookie season, contributing 911 yards of total offense and 5 total touchdowns across 16 regular season games. But Marks rushed for only 3.6 yards per attempt, and he had a habit of departing games early due to injury. Marks' backup, veteran Nick Chubb, clearly isn't the same guy he once was before a myriad of injuries cut him down in his prime.
That means by way of the NFL Draft, or via free agency, the Texans are going to need to introduce some more pop in the running back's room, and ESPN's Aaron Schatz has a potential solution.
"I've heard plenty of potential new homes for running back Breece Hall, but never Houston. Why not?" Schatz pondered. "Joe Mixon's career might be over after he missed the 2025 season because of a foot injury, and Marks looks more suited as a rotation player than lead back. The Texans need a strong running game to eat clock and complement their ferocious defense."
On paper, Hall to Houston makes all the sense in the world. At just 24 years old, it's possible that Hall's best years are ahead of him, and he's coming off of the best season of his young NFL career. In 2025, the New York Jets' bellcow back rushed for 1,065 yards on 243 attempts, and he contributed an additional 350 yards in the passing game.
Not to mention, the Houston Texans already have a glut of former Iowa State Cyclones -- Jayden Higgins, Jaylin Noel and Xavier Hutchinson -- on the roster who would likely be very happy to reunite with one of their own for the 2026 season.