NFL RB Rankings 2023: Texans’ Dameon Pierce Surges up List

Houston Texans running back Dameon Pierce turned some heads with a strong rookie season.

At this time a year ago, Dameon Pierce was a relatively unknown rookie running back that the Houston Texans had selected out of Florida in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. But Pierce was impressive enough throughout the summer that he earned 220 carries in his rookie season, and now looks like a building block for a Texans team with an increasing amount of young talent. 

To that end, Pro Football Focus ranked Pierce as the No. 14 running back in the NFL entering the 2023 season, a fairly meteoric rise in a calendar year:  

"Pierce was a one-man wrecking crew during his first NFL season. He ranked first among rookies and fifth in the league in total missed tackles forced (49). He was also tied with Nick Chubb for the most missed tackles forced per attempt. His total first-down runs and yards after contact were both top-10 marks in the league as well." 

Interestingly, Pierce is only one spot behind Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints, who has long been seen as one of the most complete running backs in the NFL. And after rushing for 939 yards in his rookie season, Pierce is one spot ahead of Travis Etienne of the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

That's perhaps the latest in a long line of evidence that you're as likely to find an above-average running back in the mid-to-late rounds as the NFL Draft as the first round, where the Jaguars selected Etienne in 2021. 

Strangely enough, Pierce now feels like one of the more established players on the Texans. However, as DeMeco Ryans prepares for his first year as head coach in Houston, the Texans did add veteran wide receiver Robert Woods and tight end Dalton Schultz via free agency. 

Wide receiver John Metchie III is expected to make his NFL debut in 2023, as he comes back from both a left torn ACL and a battle with acute promyelocytic leukemia. And, of course, the Texans used the No. 2 overall pick in this year's NFL Draft on quarterback C.J. Stroud. 

Will the Texans be a playoff team in 2023? Probably not, but for the first time in a long time, it feels like the organization is headed in the right direction. And while running backs can have short shelf lives, Pierce is at the forefront of that. 

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