{"id":938541,"date":"2026-07-06T21:30:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/938541\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T21:30:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:30:29","slug":"texans-rb-woody-marks-in-line-for-returner-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/938541\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans RB Woody Marks In Line For Returner Role"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>2025 proved to be a one-and-done year for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/ChubNi00.htm?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-07-06_pfr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Nick Chubb<\/a>\u00a0as a member of the Texans. He totaled 122 carries, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MarkWo00.htm?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-07-06_pfr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Woody Marks<\/a>\u00a0also emerged as a regular presence on offense.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cdn.profootballrumors.com\/files\/2026\/07\/USATSI_27992373-scaled.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/USATSI_27992373-221x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"221\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-411861 alignright\"  \/><\/a>The latter remains in place for his second year in Houston. Marks saw a heavy workload down the stretch and into the playoffs in 2025, but the Texans have since traded for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/M\/MontDa01.htm?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-07-06_pfr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">David Montgomery<\/a>. The veteran is in position to operate as Houston\u2019s RB1, something which will reduce Marks\u2019 offensive touches. A clear plan is nevertheless in place for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the key for Woody is understanding his role, which he does,\u201d\u00a0running backs coach\u00a0Danny Barrett\u00a0said (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/sports\/2026\/07\/05\/texans-plan-for-running-back-woody-marks-hes-going-to-get-lots-of-opportunities\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">via Aaron Wilson of KPRC2<\/a>).\u00a0\u201cLast year we brought him along slower, which was good to help him kind of learn the game. And once he learned the game, he played a lot faster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, his role is going to pick up some third downs, special teams. He\u2019s a kickoff return guy. But, more importantly, probably in the passing game as well. Just his level of confidence in the offense going into Year Two is at an all-time high right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Montgomery is best known for his work between the tackles and in short-yardage and goal line situations. He will be expected to be used heavily on early downs with his new team, a role which will leave opportunities for Marks. The 25-year-old ran for 703 yards and two touchdowns during his rookie season. Marks added another 208 yards and three touchdowns in the passing game.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the USC product was not used at all in the return game last year. Marks only logged five snaps on special teams in 2025, but that is set to change considerably moving forward. Wideout\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/N\/NoelJa00.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jaylin Noel<\/a> and cornerback\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/S\/SmitTr04.htm?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-07-06_pfr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tremon Smith<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 both of whom remain in the organization \u2013 were Houston\u2019s primary kick returners last season. It will be interesting to see how Marks fares in his third phase duties while adapting to a tweaked offensive role as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2025 proved to be a one-and-done year for\u00a0Nick Chubb\u00a0as a member of the Texans. He totaled 122 carries,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[7,221,253,2368,6,222,2931],"class_list":["post-938541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-texans","tag-football","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-houstontexans","tag-nfl","tag-texans","tag-woody-marks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116875167495850541","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938541","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=938541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}