You won't find many Houston Texans fans who didn't acknowledge running back depth as one of the team's big priorities for the offseason. And any you could find must not have watched Cam Akers' 40 carries. Obviously Joe Mixon has the RB1 role locked down, but you're not getting away with only having one capable back in today's NFL, and depth is so crucial.
At the crux of this need was the disappointment with Dameon Pierce, a 2022 fourth-round pick who has seen his role in the offense decline in each of his three NFL seasons. He's largely being floated as a preseason cut candidate, but that could all change at the end of May.
Dameon Pierce Could Save His Job During Texans' OTAs
Entering his fourth NFL season (the final on his rookie contract), running back Dameon Pierce has a major opportunity to save his job during OTAs — a series of team training sessions that the Texans have scheduled for late-May and early-June. Listed as low as RB4 on some unofficial Texans depth charts, the RB2 role (and a secure roster spot) are still firmly within grasp.
Calling the competition behind Mixon anything short of "wide-open" at this point in the offseason would simply be unrealistic. It's fun to get excited about the upside that rookie running backs may have, and it's exciting to think about free-agent additions like J.K. Dobbins. But when looking at the reality of the situation, Pierce may well already be the favorite to win the job. OTAs will give him the chance to confirm that.
The two key pieces of the equation are whether Pierce is good enough to handle the job and whether the in-house competition can overtake him, so let's look at both.
Don't Be So Quick to Write Off Pierce's Talent
Pierce's second-year flop in 2023 soured fans on his abilities in record time. Getting the chance to lead the backfield, he rushed for a brutal 2.9 yards per carry. Despite making seven starts to begin the season, he only rushed for 50-plus yards twice. He looked to offer absolutely nothing compared to Devin Singletary, who averaged 4.2 yards per carry.
But this was one of his three NFL seasons, and even that 2023 campaign itself might not be quite as bad as it seemed on the surface. Remember that the entire Texans' offense looked a little rough at times through C.J. Stroud's first few starts. The team opened the season with a 2-3 record and failed to gain even 300 yards of total offense in three of the first six. And for the latter half of the season he was working his way back from an ankle injury.
In 2024, though he only had 40 carries, he also led Texans running backs with a whopping 7.3 yards per carry (compared to 4.1 for Mixon and 3.7 each for Cam Akers and Dare Ogunbowale). Even removing his outlier 92-yard TD run, that would still have given him 5.2 per carry.
Even his career-average of 4.1 yards per carry line right up with Mixon's. He also beat Joe Mixon in PFF's rushing grade in both 2022 and 2024. Nobody is here to argue that Pierce is as good as Mixon, but it would be a total mistake to write off a 25-year-old back who has already shown this much promise.
Competition on the Texans' RB Depth Chart
Mixon obviously holds down the RB1 job. That's not up for competition at this point in the offseason. But behind him, Pierce competes with rookie Woody Marks, Dare Ogunbowale, J.J. Taylor and Jawhar Jordan.
Ogunbowale is a situational player who primarily sees the field on passing downs, and he's not here to compete for the true RB2 role. Taylor and Jordan are fringe roster players who are more likely to be on the practice squad or to max out with a special teams role than they are to see any real snaps in the backfield.
So what about Marks? The Texans drafted him in the fourth round (No. 116 overall), which suggests they do have reasonably high expectations around his upside. But even still, that's not the range of the draft where you usually see a player get an early chance at a big role. A fourth-rounder making their impact usually comes later in the season, when they've had a chance to get up to speed on the NFL game.
Last year's fourth-round running back class showed out: Bucky Irving, Ray Davis, Isaac Guerendo and Braelon Allen all made names for themselves. And not a single one of them hit 15 touches in a game through the first five weeks of the season.
Even if you believe Marks is the long-term answer (or long-term successor for Mixon), it's far from a guarantee that he'll immediately leapfrog Pierce.
Of course, all of this is contingent on what Pierce can show coaches in the limited opportunities he'll get as part of such a crowded backfield at OTAs. By the time the final one wraps up on June 5, we'll have a much better idea of Pierce's outlook as a Texans for the rest of 2025.