Houston Texans 2024 positional breakdown: Running Back

Continuing on with our series, we take a look at the Houston Texans Running Back situation. They added some big-time talent to the position, acquiring Joe Mixon via the Cincinnati Bengals, and drafted Jawhar Jordan in the draft after losing Devin Singletary. This year has been all about building around CJ Stroud, his development, and bringing in the best possible talent they can to win on his rookie deal. And it shows with their upgrades in the backfield. Let's take a look at where their backfield stands as of right now.

Depth chart

• Joe Mixon
• Dameon Pierce
• Jawhar Jordan
• Dare Ogunbowale
• JJ Taylor
• Gerrid Doaks
• British Brooks

One player they could look to move, as our Chad Porto mentioned, is Dameon Pierce. Pierce is entering his third year with the team, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be the player we all hoped he would be. Adding Mixon and Jordan in the off-season, Houston could role with both of them, along with Ogunbowale in the backfield. If you do trade Pierce, you could very likely net a Day 3 draft pick in 2025. Bringing in Devin Singletary and letting him take starting reps last season, then trading for Joe Mixon this off-season, it’s clear they’re not thinking of a long-term future with Pierce. It may be best to cut their losses sooner rather than later and develop guys like Jawhar Jordan as fast as they can. 

Mixon signed a three-year extension right after the trade to Houston, so they’re committed to him for at least the next few seasons. He’s coming off a 1,000-yard season in 2023 and got it done in the receiving game as well, totaling 52 receptions for 376 yards. At 27 years old, Mixon doesn’t figure to have more than 3-4 more quality seasons left in the tank. However, that’s realistically all the team needs out of Mixon for the trade to be a success. Most teams let their Running Backs walk after their rookie contract, and you at least know what you’re going to get from Mixon. He’s had plenty of success in this league and will be a huge help for Stroud. 

This will be a fun and very balanced offense to watch this year, and you have to give credit to Nick Caserio for how well he built it. There are not very many holes on the offensive side of the ball, and certainly not any at the skill positions. Whatever they decide to roll into week 1 with, a duo of Mixon/Pierce, or Mixon/Jordan, there will be absolutely no questions or concerns with their run game this year. They had a successful ground attack in 2023, and 2024’s projects look even better.