Texans News
Texans Release Joe Mixon After Lost 2025 Season
The Houston Texans released running back Joe Mixon on Friday, ending his two-year tenure with the franchise following a 2025 season wiped out entirely by a foot injury.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported the move. According to NBC Sports, Mixon requested the release a day before the Texans made it official. The move clears roughly $8 million in salary-cap space with free agency set to open March 11.
The release comes days after Houston agreed to acquire running back David Montgomery from the Detroit Lions, a deal that effectively made Mixon expendable. With Mixon gone, the Texans’ backfield heading into 2026 centers on Montgomery and Woody Marks, the undrafted back who led Houston with 703 rushing yards last season in Mixon’s absence.
Mixon missed the entire 2025 season after sustaining a foot injury away from the team facility during the offseason. The Texans placed him on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list before training camp and never activated him. Texans general manager Nick Caserio, speaking at the Scouting Combine, described the injury as a “freak thing” and confirmed Mixon underwent surgery this offseason, while declining to elaborate further on the nature or recovery timeline.
The uncertainty surrounding Mixon’s health going into 2026 will shape his free-agent reception. Whether he is ready for the start of the coming season remains unclear.
The release closes the book on what became a frustrating chapter. In his first season with Houston in 2024, Mixon ran for 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns in 14 games and earned a Pro Bowl selection — the second of his career. He was heading into the final year of a three-year, $27 million deal when the foot injury derailed his second year with the club.
The Bengals drafted Mixon 48th overall out of Oklahoma in 2017. He spent seven seasons in Cincinnati before the Texans acquired him for a seventh-round pick in March 2024. He has five 1,000-yard rushing seasons among his 7,428 career rushing yards.
His next team, if one emerges, will be inheriting a back who has shown the capacity to be a featured contributor when healthy. But his age and the unresolved questions about his foot will make any interest cautious at first.