The Houston Texans took the NFL by surprise in 2023, rebounding from a 3-13-1 season the year before to win 10 games and the AFC South title.
Here are three people in the Texans organization who are feeling the most heat:
Pierce had a promising rookie season, rushing for 939 yards and four touchdowns on 220 carries while chipping in 30 receptions and a receiving touchdown in the passing game. But after heading into 2023 as Houston’s lead back, Pierce lost his starting job to Devin Singletary (now with the Giants) midway through the year, and he finished with just two games of 50 or more rushing yards.
The Texans traded for Joe Mixon last week, and he figures to be the team’s new bell-cow back. Mixon rushed for 1,034 yards and nine touchdowns last season, and he has four 1,000-yard rushing seasons and four seasons with seven or more rushing touchdowns under his belt.
If Pierce has another underwhelming season next year like he did in 2023 (416 rushing yards, 2.9 yards per carry, two touchdowns), he might start losing carries to Houston’s third- and fourth-string RBs
Nico Collins had a breakout year (80 receptions, 1,297 yards, eight touchdowns), and Tank Dell likely would have been a 1,000-yard rookie had he not missed six games with a leg injury. (He finished with 47 receptions, 795 yards and seven touchdowns in 11 games.) They’re both clearly the Texans’ Nos. 1 and 2 WRs, leaving Woods to battle Noah Brown, John Metchie and Xavier Hutchinson to be WR3.
Metchie has been eased back into things after sitting out his rookie year while battling leukemia, but Brown passed Woods on the depth chart by midseason, and he finished with more yards (567) and a higher yards-per-catch average (17.2 to 10.6) than Woods did. Wood may just start the year as Houston’s fourth or fifth
