Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season showed the Houston Texans that life is tough without Joe Mixon. The veteran running back excelled last year in his first campaign with the team, but now that he’s sidelined on the NFI list with a mysterious foot injury with no timetable to return, the rest of the position group must fill the void. Nick Chubb, Dameon Pierce and Woody Marks all saw snaps with Dare Ogunbowale to open the season, but will one of them emerge as a worthy fantasy football starter?
If so, which one will it be? Let’s evaluate the fantasy football value of the Texans’ backfield and identify which of Chubb, Pierce, or Marks could emerge as a legitimate play in lineups.
Evaluating the Texans backfield
Joe Mixon brought plenty of star power to the Texans last season with over 1,300 scrimmage yards and 12 touchdowns in his first campaign with the franchise. However, their offense struggled at times and that didn’t change in his absence during the team’s 2025 opener against the Los Angeles Rams last week.
Four different halfbacks saw action in that game. Nick Chubb drew the start and played 51% of the snaps with 13 rush attempts. Dare Ogunbowale finished second with 27% of the snaps, though he earned just 12% of the rushing work and coughed up a fumble that lost Houston the game. After him, Dameon Pierce and rookie Woody Marks each played 11% of the snaps with three carries each. The snap share and rushing work were both dominated by Chubb, who gained 60 yards on the day for an average of 4.62 yards per carry.
However, questions remain about who will lead the Texans’ backfield in Week 2 as well as games to follow. Will Chubb stay at the top, or can another running back become fantasy-worthy?
The verdict
Considering the disparity in production from each of Houston’s backfield players, it seems safe to say Chubb will remain the starter heading into Week 2. While he’s not the same player he was prior to a devastating knee injury a couple of seasons ago, the former Cleveland Brown produced the best day of any Texans halfback by a significant margin in Week 1. He was bottled up for most of the first half and produced just three runs of nine yards or more, two of which came in the fourth quarter. Still, he’s the most experienced veteran of the bunch and managed a respectable performance, even if his fantasy day ended with just 6.0 PPR points.
Without pass-catching chops, Chubb’s fantasy football upside will remain capped unless he falls into the end zone — which may not happen all that much behind a poor offensive line on an attack which sputtered out of the gate to begin the new season. With that said, he’s a fringe FLEX player in fantasy RB rankings for the time being while Mixon remains out.
As for the other halfbacks, Pierce is an interesting case in that he profiles somewhat similarly to Chubb as a bruising back. He also averaged 12.77 FPPG as a rookie in 2022 with the starting role for the Texans but quickly fell out of favor with the coaching staff when head coach DeMeco Ryans took over in 2023. Given that factor and the fact he ran for just five yards with his three touches last week, it doesn’t seem likely that Pierce will rise to become the starter here barring an injury to Chubb.
As mentioned earlier, Ogunbowale saw the second-most snaps in the backfield during Week 1, but he lost a key fumble which ultimately doomed the team. Given that costly mistake, rookie Woody Marks could actually see his opportunities grow as a result. While not a household name, the USC product was a fourth-round selection by the Texans in the 2025 NFL Draft who the team traded a future third-rounder to move up and acquire via trade. That’s an encouraging sign, and while he’ll need to work to earn the coaching staff’s trust, the 5-foot-10 talent brings pass-catching ability which could potentially replace Ogunbowale’s role.
While a significant role in Week 2 feels like a bit of a long shot, Marks obviously showed he could play with 1,454 scrimmage yards and nine touchdowns in his final season at USC. He’s not a speedster by any means, but given the draft capital used to select him and his versatility, the rookie belongs consideration on the waiver wire as a stash pick if Mixon remains out beyond the first four games required by his NFI placement. Watch for his usage to increase over the coming weeks.
