The Houston Texans added help to their backfield on Wednesday, claiming running back Emari Demercado off waivers from the Dallas Cowboys while they’re in the middle of their Week 8 bye.
It’s a move driven by numbers as much as anything else. Houston went into its most recent game against the New York Giants short on bodies at running back, and that thin group made the need for another option impossible to ignore.
Demercado, listed at 5-foot-9 and 215 pounds, is entering his fifth season in the league. He spent his first three years with the Arizona Cardinals, appearing in 40 games and piling up more than 1,100 yards from scrimmage over that stretch.
Earlier this year, he was part of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 90-man roster heading into the regular season. The Chiefs waived him at the end of August, and the Cowboys quickly picked him up. His run in Dallas was brief, though, with Demercado appearing in just two games this season.
During those two outings between Weeks 1 and 2, he logged five carries for 15 yards. After that, he wasn’t elevated again.
Houston’s need for reinforcements has been building for a while. Since the Week 5 win over the Tennessee Titans, the Texans have been without veteran back David Montgomery, who has been dealing with a groin injury and sat out Weeks 6 and 7. He has not yet taken part in even a limited practice since getting hurt.
The bye week gives Montgomery extra time to recover, but there’s no certainty he’ll be ready by Week 9 against the LA Chargers.
The situation got even tighter behind him. British Brooks has been on injured reserve since Week 4 with a hamstring injury, and Jawhar Jordan was placed on Houston’s practice squad injured reserve after getting hurt in Week 6 against Jacksonville.
That left Woody Marks and Dare Ogunbowale as the only active running backs available in Week 7. For much of the game against New York, that arrangement held together, but an injury scare involving Marks in the second half underlined why Houston needed another body in the room.
Now Demercado gives the Texans a third rostered running back and a little more insurance if Montgomery, or anyone else in the mix, needs more time.
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One obvious place to start is the passing game, where Strouds involvement can no longer be treated as a supporting piece of the offense. The same goes for the skill group around him, with Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaylin Noel and Tank Dell standing out as names who should be more central in the weekly plan, while the ground game could benefit from more outside runs that better fit the personnel available. How much of that gets implemented after the break will go a long way toward determining whether Houston can still salvage its season. [Read more 🡒]