How Long Will Joe Mixon Be Out? Latest on Texans RB’s Mysterious Injury and When He’ll Play
After a standout career with the Cincinnati Bengals, Joe Mixon’s arrival in Houston was highly anticipated as the Texans wanted to take the next step forward and build around C.J. Stroud. Mixon delivered last season, but the team around him ultimately faltered.
Entering the 2025 season with high hopes, the Texans needed Mixon to replicate the dominant play that earned him a second career Pro-Bowl selection last year. Instead, the offense has spent the entire summer without its star running back. With the regular season just around the corner, what is the latest on his mysterious injury status?
What Is the Latest on Joe Mixon’s Injury?
How did Mixon get hurt? Nobody outside the organization seems to know for sure. The star running back suffered a non-football-related injury during the offseason, which sidelined him for all of the team’s training camp and preseason.
While the specific details surrounding the incident remain private, the injury is confirmed to be related to Mixon’s ankle. The Texans recently announced that Mixon will remain on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list to start the year, meaning he must miss at least the first four games of the regular season.
However, there is a growing concern that Mixon may miss all or most of the 2025 NFL season. When Texans general manager Nick Caserio was asked if Mixon would suit up at all during the 2025 NFL season, he was noncommittal.
“We’ll see. We’ll take it one day at a time,” Caserio said, according to ESPN. “We’ll evaluate those players after four weeks and see where they are in their progression and then make a determination.”
In Mixon’s absence, the Texans’ running back duties will fall on the trio of Nick Chubb, Dameon Pierce, and rookie Woody Marks. It will be interesting to see how head coach DeMeco Ryans utilizes that combination to keep the offense humming until Mixon can return.
Last season, Mixon thrived and became the backbone of the offense, finishing the year with 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns while adding 309 receiving yards and a score through the air.
When Mixon does return, it will mark his first full-speed work since last winter. That layoff adds an extra layer of concern for a 29-year-old running back whose role is built on rhythm and short-area quickness.
Houston’s run game has been underwhelming in Mixon’s absence, and if the veteran running back misses the entire season, it will be tough for the Texans to make the playoffs.
Texans Players’ Fantasy Outlooks for Week 7
Here’s what PFSN’s Kyle Soppe wrote on the Texans’ notable players’ fantasy outlooks for the Week 7 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks:
C.J. Stroud
Before the bye, C.J. Stroud gave us his top two performances of the season. The numbers were nothing short of great (81.8% complete with six touchdowns and zero interceptions), but we do need to take into account the competition.
The first of those two games came against a then-winless Titans team that had allowed 74 points over the previous two weeks, and the second against a Ravens team that was one injury shy of lining up the janitor across from Nico Collins.
Stroud took care of the matchups he was supposed to, but we need at least one more data point before even suggesting that the rookie-season version of him is back in our lives.
This Seattle defense has looked good for most of this season, and I think this will be an interesting chess match. The Seahawks rarely blitz, but when they do, they rank among the best at creating chaos.
Do they ramp up the blitz rate against the weakness of this Houston team? My guess would be “yes,” and that comes with a wide range of outcomes.
If they get home, Stroud might not be a top 20 QB this week. If not, we are looking at a lot of Collins (36.1% blitzed target share), and that’s generally optimal.
The 24.4 rushing yards per game for Stroud is encouraging, and I’m optimistic that this game can be something of a turning point, but the responsible ranker in me has to consider both sides, and that means he’s sitting just outside of my top 12 for the week.
Nico Collins
I’ll admit I was probably too bullish this summer in ranking Collins as my top player at the position. Still, we are getting some breadcrumbs, and if the good vibes entering the bye (consecutive wins after the 0-3 start) sustain, it’s easy to see him producing top 10 numbers moving forward.
The walking mismatch has scored in three of his past four games and has a 29+ yard reception in each of those contests. If it feels like Collins has been prioritized more recently, it’s because he has, seeing his target percentage trend toward his 2021 mark of 28.3% over the past month (26.5%) after a dud in the season opener.
If Week 5’s game against Baltimore had been remotely competitive, I think more people would be on the “Collins could still be a league winner” train with me. His 4-52-1 stat line was fine, but he only played 54.5% of the snaps because nothing more was required.
The schedule isn’t great over the next two months, but if Collins can stay healthy, he does draw the Cardinals and Raiders, both at home, in Weeks 15-16 as you look to advance in your fantasy playoffs. With the bye now behind him, it might not be a bad idea to send out a trade offer that values him as a top 15 receiver and bank on getting top 10 (or better) production the rest of the way.
Nick Chubb
Two chunk-play touchdowns this season are why I believe that Nick Chubb still garners interest from the Texans and fantasy managers, but it certainly feels as if he is on borrowed time.
Houston went back to the veteran in Week 5, even after a strong showing from rookie Woody Marks, and a 27-yard touchdown, which was otherwise an awfully ordinary game in a great spot in Baltimore (10 carries for 34 yards and zero receptions).
Entering the Week 6 bye, there were 43 running backs with at least 30 rushing attempts, and none of them saw a higher percentage of their rushing yards come before contact (45%) than Chubb (league average: 26.4%). That’s an alarming stat for two reasons: (1) he’s not creating much for himself, and (2) this offensive line isn’t any good.
The 29-year-old has over 1,500 touches on his NFL resume, and while he’s shown slightly more burst at times this season than I expected, I still don’t think he’s a viable fantasy option long-term.
Even in playing ahead of Marks for the vast majority of Houston’s first five games, Chubb has yet to clear 13 rushing attempts and has caught just seven passes. He deserves a roster spot because he’s a good bet for 10-12 touches, and that’s not available on most waiver wires, but asking him to be a starter for you on any sort of consistent basis, no matter the matchup, is a step I’m not willing to take.
