Houston releases Dameon Pierce, and I’m surprised. I expect some other teams will be interested in taking a look at him. He’s only 25, and he’s looked like a real nice back at times.
He’s a thick, violent runner – high on my list of guys I wouldn’t want to tackle. I remember him punching out over 130 yards twice when he was a rookie, including a Thursday night game against a good Philadelphia defense.
He got buried behind Joe Mixon last year, but when they put him in the featured role for Week 18, he ran for 176 yards at Tennessee (helped along by a 92-yard touchdown). Earlier in the year, Pierce scored on a 54-yard run against the Patriots.
While Pierce is primarily an old-school bruiser, he also has a breakaway gear. He scored a 98-yard touchdown on a kickoff return two years ago, and had returns of 40-plus on 4 of his 9 returns last year.
Helped along by the kickoff return, Pierce is the only running back in the league who’s scored on touchdowns of 70-plus yards in each of the last three years. Not Saquon or Derrick Henry – Pierce. I think he’ll land a roster spot somewhere.
If not for an ankle injury that sidelined him for a month late in 2022, I think he would have been the Rookie of the Year that season. He had 772 rushing yards in his first nine games. That’s the 4th-most by a rookie running back in the last 10 years.
| ROOKIE RUNNING BACKS, FIRST 9 GAMES (last 10 yrs) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2016 | Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 198 | 1,005 | 5.1 | 9 |
| 2019 | Josh Jacobs, Oak. | 168 | 811 | 4.8 | 7 |
| 2017 | Kareem Hunt, K.C. | 155 | 800 | 5.2 | 4 |
| 2022 | Dameon Pierce, Hou. | 165 | 772 | 4.7 | 3 |
| 2020 | James Robinson, Jac. | 155 | 689 | 4.4 | 5 |
| 2021 | Najee Harris, Pitt. | 176 | 646 | 3.7 | 4 |
| 2017 | Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 147 | 629 | 4.3 | 6 |
| 2016 | Jordan Howard, Chi. | 114 | 605 | 5.3 | 2 |
| 2018 | Phillip Lindsay, Den. | 110 | 591 | 5.4 | 3 |
| 2020 | Clyde Edwards-Helaire, K.C. | 126 | 586 | 4.7 | 2 |
| 2018 | Saquon Barkley, NYG | 131 | 586 | 4.5 | 5 |
| 2022 | Kenneth Walker, Sea. | 111 | 570 | 5.1 | 7 |
| 2025 | Quinshon Judkins, Cle. | 140 | 561 | 4.0 | 5 |
| 2021 | Elijah Mitchell, S.F. | 116 | 560 | 4.8 | 3 |
| 2018 | Kerryon Johnson, Det. | 103 | 554 | 5.4 | 2 |
| 2025 | Ashton Jeanty, L.V. | 143 | 547 | 3.8 | 4 |
| 2023 | Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 103 | 517 | 5.0 | 1 |
| 2023 | Jahmyr Gibbs, Det. | 90 | 476 | 5.3 | 4 |
| 2019 | David Montgomery, Chi. | 129 | 466 | 3.6 | 5 |
| 2021 | Javonte Williams, Den. | 95 | 466 | 4.9 | 1 |
—Ian Allan
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