HOUSTON \u2013 The status of injured Texans Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon still lacks definitive clarity for the future.<\/p>\n
Mixon missed the entire season on the non-football injury list, as KPRC 2 reported he would in October due to a \u2018tough and complicated\u2019 foot-ankle injury, per league sources. During the season, a source emphasized the team wasn\u2019t expecting Mixon to return at any point and that his career is in doubt.<\/p>\n
Mixon, a Pro Bowl selection last season who was acquired in a trade from the Cincinnati Bengals and signed to a three-year, $27 million contract, is under contract for next season. He was due a guaranteed $7 million last season and is due a nonguaranteed $8 million in 2026, which means the Texans can cut Mixon this offseason without any financial consequence. It\u2019s considered likely that the Texans will ultimately move on from Mixon due to his health issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of right now, I don\u2019t know that answer right now,\u201d Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said when asked if Mixon will return for next season. \u201cNo clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mixon was in a walking boot in the spring and his injury prompted the Texans to sign four-time Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb. Mixon later was in a lace-up brace with some improved mobility over the summer. He has sought outside medical help, including nonsurgical procedures, including electromagnetic therapy at a Florida clinic to try to speed up the healing process. Mixon would get better at times, prompting optimism. <\/p>\n
The injury never healed to the point where Mixon was close to returning, though. The Texans didn\u2019t provide much, if any, detail on his status. Sources say that was because they were honoring Mixon\u2019s wishes for privacy. There were several untrue and unsubstantiated rumors surrounding how Mixon got injured.<\/p>\n
The Texans are leaned on rookie running back Woody Marks without Mixon and got contributions from Nick Chubb.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Mixon rushed for 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns as he was named to the Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n
Without Mixon, the running game missed his dynamic, tackle-breaking presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have your best players, you\u2019re going to be a better team,\u201d Ryans said. \u201cJoe, he\u2019s a really great running back for us and not having him, yes, of course, it affected our running game. Joe is one of the top running backs in this league. That affected us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 The status of injured Texans Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon still lacks definitive clarity for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[3607,7,221,253,2368,3608,6,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-691238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-demeco-ryans","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-houstontexans","13":"tag-joe-mixon","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115927679292170289","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}