The Houston Texans have been retooling their running back stable midseason.
The Texans traded running back Mark Ingram back to the New Orleans Saints, where his career began as a 2011 first-round pick, and Houston released running back Phillip Lindsay this week.
Houston also added former Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers running back Royce Freeman to the fold, and offensive coordinator Tim Kelly likes what the former 2018 third-round pick can bring to the run game.
“He’s got good vision, he’s got good patience, he runs hard,” Kelly said. “Obviously, we haven’t seen him here in a lot of situations, but going against our defense he’s done a good job giving them looks.”
What Kelly appreciates about how Freeman has worked since joining the Texans is the way he has immersed himself in the playbook.
“He’s been smart and he’s diligent in how he prepares and the amount of time he’s spent learning the offense,” said Kelly. “I’ve been very impressed with him so far.”
In the Week 11 win over the Tennessee Titans, Rex Burkhead led the way with 18 carries for 40 yards with David Johnson providing 13 carries for 18 yards. Lindsay had a single carry for minus-3 yards.
Kelly expects the running back group to continue carrying the load with the departure of Lindsay and the addition of Freeman.
Said Kelly: “I think they’ll just kind of keep going as they’ve been playing. Obviously, Rex’s workload has kind of increased a little bit, David’s workload has kind of increased. then we have Royce. Those guys have done everything we’ve asked them to do. They’ve done a good job learning the game plan and coming out every day and practicing. I look forward to them doing the same thing.”
The Texans take on the New York Jets, who are also 2-8, Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at NRG Stadium.