Who Should I Start? Joe Mixon or Isiah Pacheco

Thursday, November 20, 12:34 PM

Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon (ankle, foot) is not expected to play this season as he deals with a foot injury from the offseason, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Mixon will likely stay on the Physically Unable to Perform list through the end of the 2025 season, while the Texans move forward with veteran Nick Chubb and rookie Woody Marks in their backfield. Things had been trending this way for a while, as the Texans haven't been giving any real updates on Mixon for pretty much the entire season. Fantasy managers who are still stashing the 29-year-old in redraft leagues should send him to the waiver wire now. Mixon's injury dates all the way back to spring workouts. One would think he'd be ready for the start of the 2026 campaign, but there has been little information about the exact nature of his injury. Marks, a fourth-rounder in April, has slowly started to see more work and should be the backfield leader over Chubb by the end of the year.

Friday, December 12, 4:18 PM

Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco handled nine carries for 30 yards in last week's 10-20 loss to the Houston Texans. In his second game back from injury, Pacheco's opportunities ticked up closer to Kareem Hunt, who handled 12 carries in the contest. Pacheco looked like the best back in the backfield before his knee injury, so the team may prefer to lean on him more as he gets healthier. Pacheco will have a chance to surpass Hunt this week against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers defense has been middle-of-the-pack in fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs this season, meaning that it should not be a difficult matchup for Pacheco. That said, splitting carries with Hunt in a divisional matchup could be a difficult situation to succeed in. Pacheco is ranked RB48 in our RotoBaller Half-PPR rankings, making him a difficult player to trust until he shows more upside.