In my personal history of rooting for the Houston Texans, when it comes to a trend involving their play on the field, I can\u2019t ever remember saying this \u2014 there is a negative streak that\u2019s gone on for eight seasons, and for the team to IMPROVE in 2026, this streak MUST continue!<\/p>\n
No, you didn\u2019t misread that. A streak that reflects poorly on the Texans\u2019 running game, implying that they are inconsistent and subpar in that area, is a streak that actually needs to continue in 2026. Here it is \u2014 the Houston Texans have had a different running back lead the team in carries each of the last eight seasons. Here\u2019s the list:<\/p>\n
2025 \u2013 Woody Marks<\/p>\n
2024 \u2013 Joe Mixon\u00a0<\/p>\n
2023 \u2013 Devin Singletary<\/p>\n
2022 \u2013 Dameon Pierce\u00a0<\/p>\n
2021 \u2013 Rex Burkhead\u00a0<\/p>\n
2020 \u2013 David Johnson\u00a0<\/p>\n
2019 \u2013 Carlos Hyde\u00a0<\/p>\n
2018 \u2013 Lamar Miller<\/p>\n
We can parse out why exactly a new carries leader occurred or was deemed necessary year to year, but I think we can all agree that good offensive teams typically have a running back that they lean on for at least a few seasons in a row. The Texans have not had that, not even close.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll explain why this steak must continue shortly, but first, let\u2019s go year by year, and look at exactly why this changing of the guard occurred each year. Here we go:<\/p>\n
2018 to 2019, LAMAR MILLER to CARLOS HYDE<\/p>\n
Miller tore his ACL in Week 3 of the 2019 preseason, and was done for the year before the regular season even started. GM Bill O\u2019Brien made one of his scarce savvy moves, trading tackle Martinas Rankins, who the Texans were about to cut, for Hyde, who went on to eclipse 1,000 yards in 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2019 to 2020, CARLOS HYDE to DAVID JOHNSON<\/p>\n
In the 2020 offseason, the Texans made Hyde a two-year, $10 million offer to return. He said \u201cno thanks,\u201d and the Texans then decided to take on David Johnson\u2019s awful contract as part of the DeAndre Hopkins trade. Let\u2019s just move on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2020 to 2021, DAVID JOHNSON to REX BURKHEAD<\/p>\n
In 2021, Johnson remained a Texan, but under the David Culley regime, the team decided to hitch its wagon to Rex Burkhead, who\u2019s never been a featured back in his career. This was the rock bottom season for Texans fans.<\/p>\n
2021 to 2022, REX BURKHEAD to DAMEON PIERCE\u00a0<\/p>\n
2022 wasn\u2019t much better overall, but one of the few things to get excited about was rookie RB Dameon Pierce, whose big personality and violent running style was one of the only things that made the Texans worth watching that season. Pierce finished with nearly 1,000 yards rushing, so it looked like, MAYBE they found something at that position\u2026.<\/p>\n
2022 to 2023, DAMEON PIERCE to DEVIN SINGLETARY<\/p>\n
\u2026but alas, the Texans hired DeMeco Ryans as their new head coach, and Ryans brought in Bobby Slowik to implement a Shanahan style run game, with lots of zone running scheme. Pierce took to this offense like a fish to the desert, and soon it was the Devin Singletary Show.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2023 to 2024, DEVIN SINGLETARY to JOE MIXON<\/p>\n
Singletary left in free agency after the 2023 season, and the Texans made a trade that made a whole lot of sense. Joe Mixon was about to get cut by the Bengals for cap purposes, so Nick Caserio sent a late round pick to Cincy for Mixon, and immediately extended his contract. MIXON was outstanding in 2024, rushing for over 1,000 yards behind a bad offensive line. Again, like in 2022 with Pierce, the Texans were hopeful they\u2019d found their guy, but\u2026..<\/p>\n
2024 to 2025, JOE MIXON to WOODY MARKS\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2026.Mixon suffered some strange lower leg injury that, to this day, the team still can\u2019t explain or refuses to explain. Bottom line was that Mixon issued the whole season, so the team leaned on the rookie Marks to shoulder the load.<\/p>\n
That brings us back to my original point of this article. Marks had 196 carries this past season, with the majority of them coming in the second half of the season, when the team was leaning on him heavily. The rookie did yeoman\u2019s work, but he was brought in to be more of a pass catching, third down type back than a bell cow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Physically, I don\u2019t know if Marks holds up under a full season of that type of workload. It seems like he exited every game from early November on with some type of injury. Ultimately, he\u2019d return to most of those games, but the message is clear \u2014 you\u2019ll get a better version of Marks, if you find an actual lead back to shoulder that 15 to 20 carry load that was put on Marks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether it comes in the draft or in free agency (or maybe even a trade), the Texans need a real lead running back, which means for the ninth season in a row, they need someone new to lead the team in carries. The very streak that symbolizes the franchise\u2019s inconsistency at that position needs to extend one more year, for the greater good.\u00a0<\/p>\n