The seemingly inevitable has happened.
According to multiple reports, the Houston Texans have officially made the decision to cut two-time Pro-Bowl running back Joe Mixon. The move saves the team roughly $8 million in cap space.
Between a lost season in 2025 due to a mystery foot injury, age, financial constraints and a recent trade for Detroit Lions rusher David Montgomery, the decision to part ways with the former 1,000-yard ball carrier was seen as a certainty by local fans and media.
With the decks now cleared, the Texans have a current depth chart that features Montgomery, second-year player Woody Marks, Jawhar Jordan and British Brooks.
It's a sad ending to what once looked like a transformative acquisition for the Texans, but a change was needed given the sudden shift in circumstances surrounding the nine-year veteran.
Texans' release of Joe Mixon comes after sudden disappearance in 2025
After playing in 16 total games for Houston in 2024 (including two AFC playoff games), Mixon suddenly popped up with injury news over the Summer regarding a mysterious foot ailment. It was so bad in fact that he was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list in August, ensuring that he would miss at least the first four games of the 2025 campaign.
From then on, it felt like a 6-foot, 220 pound elephant never left the proverbial "room" of NRG Stadium, as fans and media speculated for months about Mixon's condition and whereabouts.
General manager Nick Caserio faced questions about the topic on several occasions, and never really offered the clearest image of what was going on behind the scenes with his star running back. An example of that was this response he provided to radio hosts Sean Pendergast and Seth Payne of Sports Radio 610 in November of last year, when he expounded:
“It’s a very gray situation. Joe’s worked at it. There were times where he’s made progress and other times when the progress is kinda stalled. Obviously we’re getting pretty late in the game here, I don’t want to establish any sort of expectations. I don’t think we have anymore clarity at this point. He’s out until he’s not.”
Even during NFL combine week, Caserio gave the same kind of "I don't really know what to tell you" response when asked about the former Oklahoma Sooner. Per KPRC 2 Texans Insider Aaron Wilson, Caserio explained,
'We've talked to Joe. Honestly, it's day to day. I think he had a surgery this offseason. I'm not trying to be evasive, but it's a moving target. We'll see what the prognosis is for the season and try to figure out what ultimately makes sense."
After seven months of purported recovery efforts, updates like that furthered the concern about both his long-term health, and the viability of him as the starting rusher for the Texans moving forward. Thus, Friday's release shouldn't have surprised anyone who's been following the story for its entirety.
Texans benefitted from best season by a running back since the legendary Arian Foster
Before Mixon's 1,016-yard, 12 touchdown season in 2024, the last leading running back to eclipse over 1,000 yards and 10 or more scores in a single campaign was franchise legend Arian Foster in 2014, who went off for 1,246 yards and 13 total touchdowns.
Going a full decade without that type of production hamstrung the franchise in a variety of ways, and it continued rearing its ugly head this past year in Houston's ranking of 22nd in yards (1,852) and being tied for second worst (31st) in scores (9).
With a new bell-cow back in Montgomery being acquired, and the front office being equipped with multiple early round picks in this year's Draft, the only reasonable step to take next was parting ways with the ninth-year player.
Here's hoping for a bounce-back season for Mixon. He's a true competitor who helped carry the Texans to a second consecutive AFC South title when their offense looked lost without a rudder at times throughout what would be his final year with the club.
He made his mark in the Texans history book, and now it's time to finally turn the page and start a new chapter.