Texans RB Joe Mixon’s ‘freak’ injury status still cloudy

The Houston Texans are unclear about running back Joe Mixon's future with the team after he missed the entire 2025 season with a "freak" foot injury.

"We haven't seen Joe in a little bit, so I think at some point we'll see him and then we'll be able to evaluate kind of where he is and then based on information, we'll see where his status is," general manager Nick Caserio said at his end-of-season press conference Wednesday.

Mixon, 29, rushed for more than 1,000 yards and made the Pro Bowl in his first season with Houston in 2024 but spent all of 2025 on injured reserve with a non-football injury.

The Texans didn't divulge details of the injury during the season, saying only that he had injured his foot while away from the team during the offseason.

Pressed for more details Wednesday, Caserio called Mixon's injury a "freak thing."

"It wasn't like he was riding a snowmobile or anything like that," Caserio said. "It was more of a medical condition or situation that never... really didn't improve maybe as much as everybody would have hoped. I'm not trying to evade the question. That's the reality of the situation. He didn't jump off a building. He wasn't cliff diving or anything. He wasn't doing anything irresponsible. It was just a freak thing."

Caserio addressed the information void surrounding Mixon's status.

"It was a very unique situation," Caserio said. "I don't think anybody really had any clarity, honestly, from the start of the year until now. I'd say Joe worked very, very hard to try to get himself ready to play football. It just never manifested itself, came to fruition. So probably have an opportunity to kind of see where he is in the offseason relative to next year."

Mixon has one season remaining on the three-year, $27 million deal he signed in March 2024. Caserio said it's too soon to know if he will be ready for training camp.

"We'll see. Believe me, I'm not smart enough to be a doctor so I'm going to leave that up to the medical experts," he said. "Once we... get a little bit more clarity, more information, we'll kind of see where we are."

Mixon has rushed for 7,428 yards and 60 touchdowns in 111 career games (102 starts) with the Cincinnati Bengals (2017-23) and Texans. He has 319 catches for 2,448 yards and 14 scores.

The Texans finished 12-5 without Mixon and earned their third straight trip to the playoffs. Rookie Woody Marks led the team with 703 rushing yards and veteran Nick Chubb added 506 yards on the ground.