Saquon Barkley's stellar performance puts serious pressure on Joe Mixon and the Houston Texans

Let's go back to the spring for a bit. Free agency was about to open. The Houston Texans were clearing cap space and letting go of guys like Devin Singletary to hopefully bring in a star at running back. The name of said star was supposed to be that of Saquon Barkley. The former New York Giants running back was heading into free agency and the Texans seemed keen to land him.

The key players on the team were all starting to follow him and meetings were being had. An offer was eventually made and it looked like Barkley was set to make Houston his home going forward. Until that is, it became evident that Barkley was heading to the Philadelphia Eagles instead. They offered a significantly better deal than what the Texans offered, a deal that ultimately cost them a top-five running back in the league.

So the Texans had to scramble and so they did. They rushed to land someone, anyone really, to fill the hole that Singletary left. After all, the former Texans running back was heading to the Giants to replace Barkley. So the options to "upgrade" the position were running out. In comes a last-second trade with the Cincinnati Bengals, who sent Joe Mixon over for a late-round pick, just hours before they were set to release him.

The move was a lateral one, and while the Texans run game didn't get "better" with Mixon's arrival, it didn't get worse either. Still, the Texans turned around and gave Mixon a new deal, worth a lot of money. A deal that may look good or bad depending on how he performs. Well, since Barkley was the prize and the Texans thought he was too rich for their blood, the team settled on someone less spectacular. Meaning, that Mixon has to out-earn his contract and match Barkley beat for beat if fans are going to finally accept his new contract.

Barkley went off against the Green Bay Packers on Friday. He had 109 yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns, with an additional two receptions, for 23 yards and a single receiving touchdown. All told, he had 26 touches, for 132 yards and three touchdowns.

That is now what Mixon is looking at. The Texans lowballed Barkley because they didn't think he was worth the money. They offered Barkley three years, for $33 million, while Mixon got three years, for $27 million. That's roughly 19% less than Barkley. So, by that metric, Mixon should have about 20 touches, 107 total yards, and about two touchdowns agiainst the Indianapolis Colts.

Anything less than that would put a sour taste in our mouths. After all, you already lowballed Barkley and then overpaid Mixon. If Mixon doesn't deliver the above stats at least, then we'll be mightly concerned about the run game going forward. Especially if Barkley keeps ripping up the league.