Running back Joe Mixon won't be getting a do-over in Houston after a foot injury cost him the 2025 season.
The Houston Texans released two-time Pro Bowler on Friday, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported. The news comes after Mixon asked to to be released, Pelissero added.
The team released Mixon with a non-football injury designation, per the league transaction wire.
Mixon, 29, spent two seasons in Houston that could not have gone more differently.
The Texans thought highly enough of Mixon in 2024 that when news spread of his impending release by the Cincinnati Bengals, they circumvented a free-agent bidding war by stepping in to trade for the running back.
Mixon hit the ground running as the team's feature back, slowed only by a high ankle sprain that cost him three games early. Not counting the Week 2 game in which he was injured, he went over 100 rushing yards in seven of his first nine outings as a Texan. Mixon finished the regular season with 1,016 rushing yards, 309 receiving yards and 12 total touchdowns. He scored a touchdown in each of Houston's playoff games and delivered yet another 100-yard performance in the Wild Card Round.
Mixon's placement on the non-football injury list to start training camp for the 2025 season stopped any carryover momentum in its tracks. It became evident something was more seriously amiss toward the end of the preseason, and he ultimately never came off the NFI list, leaving the Texans to navigate their most recent run to the playoffs with a backfield led by Woody Marks and Nick Chubb.
Houston running backs combined for six TDs on the ground and the team's rushing attack finished 22nd in the league. Staring at an inefficient operation and a future muddied by Mixon's injury, the Texans worked out a trade for the Detroit Lions' David Montgomery on Monday.
The clock already seemed to be ticking on Mixon's time in Houston before then, but the pairing of Montgomery with Marks made his departure a near certainty.
Mixon enters free agency sporting a stellar résumé. He currently sits seventh among active players with 7,428 rushing yards and his 60 rushing touchdowns are tied for eighth. He's also plenty capable of doing damage in the passing game, which is evident from his 2,448 career receiving yards and 14 TD catches.
The main question mark looming over Mixon's continued ability to be a difference-maker is his health. Any interested clubs will have to feel comfortable enough that the foot injury that kept Mixon off the field for an entire season is now behind him.
Then, he'll have to prove it on the field.
