The Houston Texans made an investment in running back for the first time in the draft since 2017.
The Texans picked former Florida running back Dameon Pierce in the fourth round. Pierce averaged 5.7 yards per carry in his final year at Florida, but he didn’t get very many chances to rush with just 100 total on the season.
According to Luke Easterling from the Draft Wire, Pierce ranks as the 15th-best fantasy rookie heading into the 2022 season.
Pierce will get his chances with the Texans. New offensive line coach George Warhop wants the run game, specifically the run blocking, to be a team effort, not just the responsibility of the offensive line.
“The way that I look at the run game is it’s about yards per carry because we can’t dictate how many carries a back is going to get in a game,” Warhop told reporters on Feb. 22. “It’s all based on how the game is going to go. So, if we’re getting a lot of carries, that’s great. We might have 140, 150 yards rushing.
“But if we’re getting minimal carries, we might get less than that. But the one thing that you’re always going to look at, I’m going to look at is what is our yards per carry. I want that to be above 4.3, 4.4, somewhere in there.”
If Pierce is getting his touches and offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton is sticking with the run, pending it is successful in-game, then Pierce could be a steal. If nothing else, he has a nose for the end zone as he scored 13 rushing touchdowns in his final season with the Gators.
