The Texans are down to the wire at the NFL trade deadline, and running back has emerged as one of the positions worth watching.
Houston has been checking in on available running backs around the league, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, with safeties also in the mix. The question now is which backs actually make sense for the Texans if they decide to act before the buzzer.
The most realistic path looks like a modest one. The Texans’ backfield has been thin and banged up lately, and any move here would probably be about adding depth rather than shaking up the top of the depth chart. In that lane, the price would likely stay manageable, with most of the names in play expected to cost no more than a day three pick.
That kind of deal could still matter for a Houston run game that has sat in the bottom half of the NFL all season. A cheap addition would give the Texans some insurance and help stabilize a room that has needed it.
One name to watch most closely is Devin Singletary of the Giants. He checks a lot of boxes for Houston: veteran presence, minimal acquisition cost, and familiarity with the Texans. He could fit as a dependable RB3 behind Woody Marks and David Montgomery, with the ability to contribute on the ground and as a receiver if needed.
There are also a couple of bigger names that are at least fun to imagine in Houston, even if the odds are long. Breece Hall was briefly tied to the Texans this offseason as a possible addition to a growing group of Iowa State alums, while Ashton Jeanty fits the kind of swing-for-upside idea where a team bets on a young player who hasn’t met expectations yet.
Still, neither appears likely to move. The rumored interest has been limited, the asking price would likely be at least a day or two picks, and there hasn’t been much sign that either team is eager to deal. If anything changes, it may be later, not now.
Then there are the headline names: Jonathan Taylor, Saquon Barkley, and Derrick Henry. If any of them were truly available, they’d draw serious attention from around the league, and a Texans team in need of backfield help would have reason to stay in the conversation.
But that’s where the dream ends and the reality starts. A first-round pick looks like the going rate for that tier, and that’s a steep ask for a running back, even one with star power.
Barkley and Henry have already been told they won’t be traded before the deadline, which makes those paths even harder to picture. Taylor would be the one with the most room for speculation, but it would still be difficult to see the Colts sending their franchise running back to a division rival like Houston.
So if the Texans do make a move, it probably won’t be the kind that dominates the deadline. The likeliest outcome is a smaller addition, not a blockbuster.
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Pitres impact showed up in the box score, too, with six combined tackles and two tackles for loss after missing time with an injury. More important for Houston, his presence seemed to settle the defense and give it a different edge, the kind of energy that can change how a unit plays from snap to snap. If the Texans are going to keep climbing, getting that version of Pitre back could be a big part of it. [Read more 🡒]