One of the biggest mysteries of the Houston Texans’ 2025 season was the injury to running back Joe Mixon.
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Mixon was placed on the non-football injured list during the offseason with a foot issue and ended up missing the entire season.
The details of what led to Mixon’s season-ending injury remain unclear. What we do know is that, according to the list Mixon was placed on, he suffered the injury in a non-football related activity, whatever that may be.
On Wednesday, Texans general manager Nick Caserio provided at least some details about the situation, and while clearing up one mystery surrounding Mixon, he opened the door to another.
According to Aaron Wilson of Click2Houston.com, Caserio said Mixon’s injury was the result of a “strange medical thing” rather than Mixon doing something irresponsible to hurt himself.
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“He didn’t jump off a building, he didn’t jump off a cliff, he didn’t do anything irresponsible. Something strange medically,” Caserio said.
It’s not exactly the detailed explanation we were looking for, but it’s better than anything Caserio and the Texans have provided since Mixon hit the NFI list.
When asked about Mixon’s status for 2026, Caserio was noncommittal and said he wasn’t sure if the veteran running back would even play.
That’s because the team wants Mixon to get a “test,” but Caserio admitted that the team hasn’t seen Mixon in a while.
“It’s going to be hard to answer that now,” Caserio said, according to ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime.
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It’s unclear why Mixon is avoiding the Texans, but that opens up yet another mystery surrounding the veteran running back.
All of this points to a likely divorce between Mixon and the Texans in 2026.
Mixon has one more year left on his contract, but can be cut to save $8 million and only incur a $2 million dead cap charge, according to Over The Cap.
Considering what happened last season, his age (29) and lack of communication with the team, it would be surprising to see Mixon back in Houston in 2026.