Texans star running back Joe Mixon to miss first 4 games of season due to ankle injury

Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon won't be on the field for the first four games of the season. 

The Texans won't be activating Mixon off the non-football injury list before the 4 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday, which makes him ineligible to play the first four games.

"We will officially move RB Joe Mixon from the Active/Non-Football Injury list to the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list," the statement read on X. "Players placed on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list may begin to practice and play after the club's fourth game of the regular season. We will provide further updates at an appropriate time."

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Mixon has been dealing with an ankle injury he suffered over the offseason. 

The 29-year-old has a solid first season with Houston in 2024, where he rushed for 1,016 yards with 11 rushing touchdowns. He earned himself Pro Bowl honors for his efforts. 

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But with a potential absence in the cards for the Texans, they were proactive in getting another veteran with good past production in the building in case this situation came up. 

Nick Chubb was signed following his seven years in a Cleveland Browns uniform. Chubb, who will turn 30 in December, played just eight games last season, rushing for 332 yards with three touchdowns on 102 attempts. 

Chubb suffered a gruesome leg injury in 2023 in just his second game of the season, which forced a lengthy recovery. Before that, he was coming off a 2022 campaign, his fourth straight Pro Bowl season, where he tallied 1,525 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns for Cleveland. 

The Texans also looked at the potential future at the position when they drafted Woody Marks out of USC back in April. Marks was a fourth-round pick who ran for 1,133 yards on 198 attempts with nine rushing scores, as well as 321 receiving yards on 47 catches. 

Houston will likely rely on these two to pick up the slack left by Mixon, who they also hope can return after those missed four games to start the year. 

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