Dameon Pierce burst onto the scene in his rookie year back in 2022 as a fourth-round pick.
He rushed 220 times for 939 yards and four touchdowns and looked like the Texans' future franchise running back. But in 2023 with a new offense to learn Pierce fell behind. He didn't have a great start to the season, missed three games with an injury, lost his starting job to Devin Singletary and finished the year with just 416 yards on 145 carries and two touchdowns.
Texans general manager Nick Caserio isn't concerned with Pierce, though, even after Houston traded for Joe Mixon.
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Caserio spotlighted Pierce for the upcoming season with his recent comments during a SportsRadio 610 interview. He said that Pierce "looks pretty good" in Year 2 of the Bobby Slowik offense.
“Everybody’s looking forward to the opportunity in front of them; you can’t worry about what’s happened in the past," Caserio said. "He’s got as good an attitude as anyone on the team. We’re glad DP is here. He’s going to be a big part of what we’re doing. He’s working his ass off so far, which is great to see.”
While Pierce will likely sit behind Mixon, Caserio appears to have faith in RB2.
Here's a look at Pierce's career thus far and if we can expect a bounceback year.
Dameon Pierce’s NFL career
The case for Pierce’s bounce-back
The Texans suffered injuries throughout their offense this past season, including a lot on the offensive line. Therefore, Pierce didn't play behind the best offensive line chemistry with the constant moving pieces trying to sync together every week.
Pierce had an admirable rookie season and has shown the ability to get things done at the NFL level. He ran for more than 900 yards and averaged 4.3 yards per carry that year. The offensive line now has another year of developed talent on the interior with Kenyon Green, Juice Scruggs and Jarrett Patterson with Tytus Howard and Laremy Tunsil working back to 100% health at tackle. Behind them, the second-round selection of Blake Fisher gives an upgrade in talented depth if Tunsil or Howard were to miss time or struggle as they work back to complete health.
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This past season was the first for Pierce in Slowik’s offense. A second year with Slowik, a healthy offensive line and weapons surrounding him could give Pierce his best opportunity for success since entering the pros. In 2023, defenses stacked the box with eight or more defenders against Pierce. Pierce saw stacked boxes on 26.21% of his snaps — the eighth most of any running back in 2023, per NextGen Stats. Devin Singletary saw the 12th most stacked boxes at 23.15. Joe Mixon only saw a stacked box on 15.18% of the plays when he was in Cincinnati with the Bengals this past year.
The Texans now have an offense with Stefon Diggs, Nico Collins, Tank Dell and Dalton Schultz. Even with Pierce not being much of a threat as a receiving back, he should see eight-man boxes against him drastically decline as defensive will have to focus on the remaining weapons all over the field.
The case against Pierce’s bounce-back
Pierce has had three really good rushing games in his career. They were all in his rookie season when he rushed 58 times for 364 total yards (6.3 ypc). The rest of his rookie season saw 162 rushes for 575 yards (3.6 ypc). His rookie stats of 939 rushing yards on 220 carries for 4.27 yards per carry was good enough for 27th out of 46 qualified running backs. Joe Mixon that year averaged 3.88 yards per carry which placed him 35th.
Pierce plummeted to the worst yards per carry of all qualified running backs at 2.87 yards per carry in 2023 and finished 49th out of 49. He was bested in the same offense for the Texans by Singletary who averaged 4.16 yards per carry which placed him 22nd among the 49 qualified running backs. Mixon came in at 4.02 which placed him 27th. Pierce saw his offensive snap count percentage cut in half from 2022 (64%) to 2023 (32%) as the veteran Singletary passed him up on the roster.
Once he returned from injury, Pierce only rushed 36 times for 89 yards (2.47 ypc) this past season. He had three carries in the playoffs for zero yards. Pierce started returning kicks in the final three games of the season in which he returned seven for 225 yards and one touchdown. Defenses could stack the box against him in 2023 as they view him as a one-dimensional player and not much of a receiving threat.
Next Gen Stats paints a poor picture of Pierce from 2023 in numerous categories. Pierce had the third-longest time behind the line of scrimmage at 3.0 seconds. Only the Browns' Jerome Ford and the Seahawks' Kenneth Walker spent more time behind the line. Mixon at 2.6 was tied for the third-shortest amount of time behind the line of scrimmage this past year, while Singletary came in at 2.84.
In rush yards over expected per attempt, Pierce finished 2023 at -0.59 which was the third-lowest behind Jamaal Williams (-0.98) and Kareem Hunt (-0.75). Lastly, Pierce ranked dead last among all running backs in efficiency by Next Gen Stats at (5.18). No other back was in the fives. The next closest were Jerome Ford (4.68) and Miles Sanders (4.66). Singletary finished at 3.71 with Mixon at 3.78.
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Pierce will be competing for touches behind Mixon in the offense. Last year, Singletary reached a career-high in carries (216) and touches (246) and routinely sees about 30-40 receptions a year. Mixon has averaged 253 carries and 51 receptions over the past three seasons. If the average holds up, there will be 50 fewer touches for Pierce in the offense.
Maybe Houston tries to keep Mixon fresh for the long season and the playoffs and reduces his role? Even so, there’s another obstacle in Pierce’s path to touches and that’s rookie running back Jawhar Jordan. Despite not being selected until the sixth round of this year’s draft, Jordan has real talent. He’s also returned kicks in college with 14 in 2022 and 26 total over his five years at Syracuse and Louisville.
Jordan will get on the field early as a rookie as he’s not afraid of blitz pickup and pass protection. He’s a quick, shifty back that explodes out of his cuts and is a slippery runner after the catch. Jordan lacks pull-away speed, though, and he’s an upright runner who can waste time behind the line of scrimmage with too much dancing.
Pierce didn’t have to compete with a clear-cut starter and capable rookie last year. Now, with Mixon and Jordan in tow, Pierce’s path to touches seems restricted. He and Jordan are more 2a and 2b than Pierce being a clear-cut backup. Jordan’s shiftiness as a receiving threat and ability to be trusted when tasked to protect C.J. Stroud will have him in the mix early in the backfield.
Verdict
Unless an injury or disappointment in play hits Mixon and/or Jordan, then Pierce will have an uphill battle to match the 158 touches he saw in 2023. It’s more likely that he'll finish the season closer to 100-120 touches. His role could consist of special teams, veteran backup, short yardage and goal-line work.
Pierce should get back up closer to 4.0 yards per carry this year with all of the weapons in the offense to pull defenders out of the box, the health and talent of the offensive line and being fresh in a rotation with Mixon and Jordan without the pressure of the expectations of having to carry the position, like he headed into the last season with the weight on his shoulders.
