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Is Joe Mixon, Nick Chubb, Woody Marks the Texans starting running back in 2025? Should I draft Joe Mixon, Nick Chubb, Woody Marks for fantasy football drafts?
The Houston Texans have a trio of running backs -- Joe Mixon (foot/ankle), Nick Chubb, and Woody Marks -- who many fantasy football managers have their eyes on heading into the 2025 NFL season. Due to a variety of factors, this team's running back situation is pretty ambiguous right now.
Though Mixon was the clear lead back last season, he's currently dealing with injury issues that don't seem to be set to go away anytime soon. Chubb, meanwhile, is in his first season with the team after spending his whole career with the Browns previously. And Marks is a rookie drafted in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
All three should see the field to some extent during the regular season, but fantasy managers want to pick the player who will score the most, or at least make the best value pick. So, let's dive into fantasy football outlooks for all three players and reach a verdict on which one you should draft.
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Joe Mixon Fantasy Football Outlook
Right now, things aren't looking great. For starters, the offensive coordinator who made Mixon an absolute workhorse back in 2024, Bobby Slowik, was fired after his dismal performance last season and has been replaced. That's not good for Mixon's potential fantasy workload.
But the veteran is also dealing with an ankle and foot injury that's lingered since last season. And it looks like he won't even play in the team's first game. He's currently on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. There's talk that he could start the season on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list due to his ailment.
Slight injury update on #Texans RB Joe Mixon via, @AaronWilson_NFL
Aaron on Mixon’s health, “I believe he starts the season on the non football injury list” which would sideline him for week 1 in LA.
He also states that it’s been a “tough & complicated rehabbing” for RB1.…
— Andrew Wilkinson (@DrewWilk23) August 18, 2025
The vibes are hideous, more toxic than the stagnant air under the sealed wreckage left by the Chernobyl explosion. And the signing of Chubb, along with the drafting of Marks, leads me to believe that the Texans have known that Mixon's ankle is in bad shape more than they've let on.
It's hard to say what Mixon's season will be like. There hasn't been reporting that he needs surgery, but it might be the best option at this point. If it's not, it's likely in his future after the season ends, and the injury could slow him down all season and/or cause him to miss extended time.
If he does play, it's unlikely that he'll regain his workhorse role from last season. So, at his ADP right now, drafting him makes little sense. Even when he returns, a committee with Chubb is the most likely way the team will choose to give out carries.
Nick Chubb Fantasy Football Outlook
Chubb has plenty of upside ... kind of. While Mixon is hurt, he'll be the unquestioned leader in this backfield. As you'll find out later, I'm not very high on Marks, leading me to believe that Chubb will handle the vast majority of the carries early in the season while Mixon sits on the sidelines.
So in the super short term, Chubb might have a few solid games, leading many to believe he'll take over the backfield. But NFL rosters are rarely that simple. Were it not for the devastating knee injury that ended Chubb's 2023 season, it's easy to see how he could be the team's clear lead back.
But Chubb was a shadow of his former self when he played in 2024. Some injuries are so bad that players never fully recover, and unfortunately, that may be the case with Chubb. So when Mixon returns, even playing through his injury, this could become an ugly committee backfield.
right now, Nick Chubb is the Texans starting RB pic.twitter.com/r0HR9MRLCi
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) August 17, 2025
Perhaps backup Dameon Pierce could get some work in the meantime, but he's been largely ineffective since his rookie season, and there's little reason to believe that will suddenly change. New Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley is likely to lean into the team's passing game more as well.
Considering Houston signed wide receiver Christian Kirk and used premium draft capital to select rookie WRs Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel in the 2025 NFL Draft, it doesn't seem like there will be as much rushing volume to go around. Slowik's super-run-heavy scheme could be gone.
Chubb is 29 years old and has two massive knee injuries in his past, so it's likely his explosiveness will be massively nerfed moving forward. Not too exciting.
Woody Marks Fantasy Football Outlook
Marks has received plenty of hype in dynasty fantasy football circles. I'm baffled as to why, unless it's pure wish-casting for those who have drafted him in their dynasty rookie and startup drafts. His film isn't impressive, and though he caught a lot of passes in college, he didn't look great on film.
The advanced stats also back this up. He didn't gain a lot of yards after contact, wasn't good at forcing defenders to miss, and wasn't efficient as a receiver. He had the worst missed tackles forced rate of any RB drafted in 2025.
Running Back draft class career production pic.twitter.com/2HPoYrbOvE
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) May 8, 2025
It's perplexing, then, that he's considered next in line to take over a workhorse role for the Texans. Such poor efficiency metrics can't be hand-waved away by blaming the team around him because it's the running back's job to be efficient as a receiver and be elusive.
Who Should You Draft in Fantasy Football?
I would personally stay completely away from this backfield in fantasy. Perhaps you could make the upside case for Chubb, and perhaps he'll recover better than basically every other player who has ever shredded their knee twice. Maybe Mixon will heal up completely. I'm not convinced.
And maybe Marks' struggles in college were little more than smoke, and he's gonna crush when he gets into the NFL. Well, that's doubtful. They speak for themselves, and you'd do well to avoid every running back who isn't elusive, fast, powerful, or efficient.
Mixon's ADP is too high, Chubb has very little season-long upside unless Mixon ends up missing the rest of the year, and Marks has very little upside in the first place. The Texans are also projected to have the league's worst offensive line by many football analysts. I'll pass.
Who Should I Draft Tool
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