After missing all of the 2025 season with an unspecified foot injury, Joe Mixon looks to move on from the Houston Texans.
After the Houston Texans acquired running back David Montgomery in a trade with the Detroit Lions, it felt like the writing may be on the wall for Joe Mixon and his future with the franchise. That was all confirmed on Friday when ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Texans granted Mixon’s request for a release after missing the entirety of the 2025 season due to a mysterious foot injury. The injury was suffered over the offseason, and Houston never gave any specifics or details surrounding the injury as Mixon missed all of the offseason workouts, training camp, and eventually the whole season. The team placed him on the non-football injury list, sidelining him for a minimum of four games, but he never healed to make a return.
It left the Texans to rely on rookie Woody Mark, who led the rushing attack with 703 yards, and free agent Nick Chubb, who amassed 506 rush yards. It wasn’t entirely effective as Houston was 22nd in the NFL averaging 108 rush yards per game. Mixon’s presence was sorely missed after a 2024 campaign that saw Mixon rush for 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns to earn a Pro Bowl nod in his first season with the team. The Texans originally acquired Mixon in a trade with the Cincinnati Bengals in March of 2024.
Here is the full story from Texans Roundtable writer on the release and end of the Mixon era in Houston.
While not much, the move ultimately saves Houston $8 million in cap space and marks the end of a mysterious era that unfortunately kept Mixon out of action all of 2025. It wasn’t a great payoff of the immediate extension the franchise gave him in 2024 of a three-year, $27 million deal that included $13 million guaranteed. It’s clear that they’ll look to continue building their rush attack around rooky Marks while getting a lot out of Montgomery after a productive stint in Detroit.