RB Dameon Pierce, HOU (1 Viewer)

[Major]

He's worth a few shares. I think he's better than Mixon and if Mixon were to get hurt, he has huge upside in that offense. Texans gave Mixon the big deal, so I expect him to be the guy, but I don't think there's a large talent disparity between these two guys.

I don't think we're watching the same game. He gives me zero confidence in Slowik's offense. I'm more bullish on Akers than Pierce.

 

[Chardo1]

He's worth a few shares. I think he's better than Mixon and if Mixon were to get hurt, he has huge upside in that offense. Texans gave Mixon the big deal, so I expect him to be the guy, but I don't think there's a large talent disparity between these two guys.

I don't think we're watching the same game. He gives me zero confidence in Slowik's offense. I'm more bullish on Akers than Pierce.

I had such high hopes for the new regime bringing out the best in him. A monster unleashed. But he regressed tremendously. Last in the league in YPC. Lost hiis job to a journeyman. Then they went out and got a guy given away basically for free by a SB contender. And brought in another RB with two duct-tape achilles tendons.

I would not be surprised to see Pierce traded for a 7th. Or get cut.

 

[Chaka]

He's worth a few shares. I think he's better than Mixon and if Mixon were to get hurt, he has huge upside in that offense. Texans gave Mixon the big deal, so I expect him to be the guy, but I don't think there's a large talent disparity between these two guys.

He was really, really bad last year and he got plenty of opportunities to not be bad. Ultimately he wasn't better than Devin Singletary, who is probably somewhat underrated. It's difficult to see an argument for his production this season that isn't predicated on a Mixon injury.

Even then I'm not sure he cracks the top five backup RBs that should be drafted in most leagues.

Jaylen Wright, Ray Davis, Trey Benson, Braelon Allen, Zach Charbonnet, Tank Bigsby, Trey Sermon, Algeier, Blake Corum, CEH, and that isn't even getting into the 1a/1b situations like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Tennessee, the Chargers, Washington or Detroit. Or situations like Carolina where we have to wonder what happens when Brooks comes back.

I might take Pierce over a couple of those guys (Bigsby and maybe Sermon) but, with little stand alone value I could easily see him go undrafted in a ton of leagues.

 

[BIRDGANG52]

He's worth a few shares. I think he's better than Mixon and if Mixon were to get hurt, he has huge upside in that offense. Texans gave Mixon the big deal, so I expect him to be the guy, but I don't think there's a large talent disparity between these two guys.

He was really, really bad last year and he got plenty of opportunities to not be bad. Ultimately he wasn't better than Devin Singletary, who is probably somewhat underrated. It's difficult to see an argument for his production this season that isn't predicated on a Mixon injury.

Even then I'm not sure he cracks the top five backup RBs that should be drafted in most leagues.

Jaylen Wright, Ray Davis, Trey Benson, Braelon Allen, Zach Charbonnet, Tank Bigsby, Trey Sermon, Algeier, Blake Corum, CEH, and that isn't even getting into the 1a/1b situations like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Tennessee, the Chargers, Washington or Detroit. Or situations like Carolina where we have to wonder what happens when Brooks comes back.

I might take Pierce over a couple of those guys (Bigsby and maybe Sermon) but, with little stand alone value I could easily see him go undrafted in a ton of leagues.

Sure, he was bad. I've never seen anyone ever average a YPC that low on that many carries. The Texans kept feeding him the ball regardless of the fact he wasn't doing much with them.

145 carries at 2.9 YPC. I've never seen anything like that before.


But, the year before, he was averaging 4.3 YPC. So I've seen him "do it" before. Am I supposed to believe he "lost it" from his age 22 to 23 season?

I can't say for sure what his problem was last year, but I see a guy who has one good season and one bad season. His YPC this year will probably be closer to 4.3 YPC than 2.9 YPC. I just can't imagine that a 24 year old kid forgot how to play Runningback. There was a coaching change that came with learning a new offense, for all I know he's a doofus and couldn't figure it out.


Players get better and in this case, he just needs to get back to where he was as a rookie and he'll be fine. If he continues to be a 3 YPC guy, then this will be one of my most confusing fall from graces I've seen. Like, we're gambling on guys returning from ACL and Achilles tear but are willing to write off a completely healthy player for one down season.

Nobody has more bounce back potential than this cat. Call me an optimist, but I'm just hoping a 24 year old can do the things he was doing when he was 22 years old and I don't think that's a stretch.

 

[Chaka]

He's worth a few shares. I think he's better than Mixon and if Mixon were to get hurt, he has huge upside in that offense. Texans gave Mixon the big deal, so I expect him to be the guy, but I don't think there's a large talent disparity between these two guys.

He was really, really bad last year and he got plenty of opportunities to not be bad. Ultimately he wasn't better than Devin Singletary, who is probably somewhat underrated. It's difficult to see an argument for his production this season that isn't predicated on a Mixon injury.

Even then I'm not sure he cracks the top five backup RBs that should be drafted in most leagues.

Jaylen Wright, Ray Davis, Trey Benson, Braelon Allen, Zach Charbonnet, Tank Bigsby, Trey Sermon, Algeier, Blake Corum, CEH, and that isn't even getting into the 1a/1b situations like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Tennessee, the Chargers, Washington or Detroit. Or situations like Carolina where we have to wonder what happens when Brooks comes back.

I might take Pierce over a couple of those guys (Bigsby and maybe Sermon) but, with little stand alone value I could easily see him go undrafted in a ton of leagues.

Sure, he was bad. I've never seen anyone ever average a YPC that low on that many carries. The Texans kept feeding him the ball regardless of the fact he wasn't doing much with them.

145 carries at 2.9 YPC. I've never seen anything like that before.


But, the year before, he was averaging 4.3 YPC. So I've seen him "do it" before. Am I supposed to believe he "lost it" from his age 23 to 24 season?

I can't say for sure what his problem was last year, but I see a guy who has one good season and one bad season. His YPC this year will probably be closer to 4.3 YPC than 2.9 YPC. I just can't imagine that a 24 year old kid forgot to play Runningback. There was a coaching change that came with learning a new offense, for all I know he's a doofus and couldn't figure it out.


Players get better and in this case, he just needs to get back to where he was as a rookie and he'll be fine. If he continues to be a 3 YPC guy, then this will be one of my most confusing fall from graces I've seen. Like, we're gambling on guys returning from ACL and Achilles tear but are willing to write off a completely healthy player for one down season.

Nobody has more bounce back potential than this cat. Call me an optimist, but I'm just hoping a 24 year old can do the things he was doing when he was 22 years old and I don't think that's a stretch.

Of course, but when you start face down on the floor, just getting to your knees is a bounce back.

Joe Mixon is nothing special anymore. Frankly I don't think I ever viewed him as a special back but he has been reliable throughout his career. And he only has six career fumbles on 1,854 touches. Pierce already has seven fumbles on 408 career touches. I don't think Pierce is as bad as he was last year but I don't think he's special either and I think Mixon's reliability is going to severely cap Pierce's opportunity share. I don't see a non-injury scenario where he can play himself into a bigger role.

 

[BIRDGANG52]

He's worth a few shares. I think he's better than Mixon and if Mixon were to get hurt, he has huge upside in that offense. Texans gave Mixon the big deal, so I expect him to be the guy, but I don't think there's a large talent disparity between these two guys.

He was really, really bad last year and he got plenty of opportunities to not be bad. Ultimately he wasn't better than Devin Singletary, who is probably somewhat underrated. It's difficult to see an argument for his production this season that isn't predicated on a Mixon injury.

Even then I'm not sure he cracks the top five backup RBs that should be drafted in most leagues.

Jaylen Wright, Ray Davis, Trey Benson, Braelon Allen, Zach Charbonnet, Tank Bigsby, Trey Sermon, Algeier, Blake Corum, CEH, and that isn't even getting into the 1a/1b situations like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Tennessee, the Chargers, Washington or Detroit. Or situations like Carolina where we have to wonder what happens when Brooks comes back.

I might take Pierce over a couple of those guys (Bigsby and maybe Sermon) but, with little stand alone value I could easily see him go undrafted in a ton of leagues.

Sure, he was bad. I've never seen anyone ever average a YPC that low on that many carries. The Texans kept feeding him the ball regardless of the fact he wasn't doing much with them.

145 carries at 2.9 YPC. I've never seen anything like that before.


But, the year before, he was averaging 4.3 YPC. So I've seen him "do it" before. Am I supposed to believe he "lost it" from his age 23 to 24 season?

I can't say for sure what his problem was last year, but I see a guy who has one good season and one bad season. His YPC this year will probably be closer to 4.3 YPC than 2.9 YPC. I just can't imagine that a 24 year old kid forgot to play Runningback. There was a coaching change that came with learning a new offense, for all I know he's a doofus and couldn't figure it out.


Players get better and in this case, he just needs to get back to where he was as a rookie and he'll be fine. If he continues to be a 3 YPC guy, then this will be one of my most confusing fall from graces I've seen. Like, we're gambling on guys returning from ACL and Achilles tear but are willing to write off a completely healthy player for one down season.

Nobody has more bounce back potential than this cat. Call me an optimist, but I'm just hoping a 24 year old can do the things he was doing when he was 22 years old and I don't think that's a stretch.

Of course, but when you start face down on the floor, just getting to your knees is a bounce back.

Joe Mixon is nothing special anymore. Frankly I don't think I ever viewed him as a special back but he has been reliable throughout his career. And he only has six career fumbles on 1,854 touches. Pierce already has seven fumbles on 408 career touches. I don't think Pierce is as bad as he was last year but I don't think he's special either and I think Mixon's reliability is going to severely cap Pierce's opportunity share. I don't see a non-injury scenario where he can play himself into a bigger role.

Yeah, it's a situation where Pierce needs to be better than Mixon outright to earn more carries. They're paying Mixon $5,000,000 which relatively speaking isn't a ton of money, but still indicative that he's the man in Houston. They signed him to a big contract from a RB perspective but not a lot of that is guaranteed.

From a talent perspective, it's pretty close, but Mixon is clearly the guy. But who knows? Maybe the 24 year old kid comes into this season hungry and has his best season. I doubt it, but due diligence says these guys should be fairly interchangeable talent wise. I know I do my best work when I'm on a redemption story arc.


Something to take note of, but as you alluded, probably not very pertinent. Mixon's fairly young too, but there's a lot of mileage on those tires. Good talk!

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

Friday DNP (hamstring) after the slightest bit of positivity in week 1 (basically, getting in ahead of Akers and looking good with all three of his carries).

Is anybody considering him a must-hold in dynasty until he gets to his next destination? That's kind of where I was at after what I paid to get him, but I can't help but feel like I'm throwing out good money after bad at this point. He needs an injury to Mixon to open the path, and instead he's the one getting banged up in practice and opening the door for Akers and Dare to supplant him. I need to manufacture some rb depth much more than I need WR depth. However, I could grab the WR Pierce off waivers, which would at least give me a chance at something that I can actually trade if he sets another land speed record getting loose for another A-Rich bomb.

Am I jumping the gun to wash my hands of D Pierce? If Zak Moss can boomerang from complete bust to something useful, you would think there's plenty of time for Pierce in an offense that's a better fit.

 

[menobrown]

Friday DNP (hamstring) after the slightest bit of positivity in week 1 (basically, getting in ahead of Akers and looking good with all three of his carries).

Is anybody considering him a must-hold in dynasty until he gets to his next destination? That's kind of where I was at after what I paid to get him, but I can't help but feel like I'm throwing out good money after bad at this point. He needs an injury to Mixon to open the path, and instead he's the one getting banged up in practice and opening the door for Akers and Dare to supplant him. I need to manufacture some rb depth much more than I need WR depth. However, I can't help but feel like I would be better off grabbing the WR Pierce, which would at least give me a chance at something that I can actually trade if he gets loose for another A-Rich bomb or two.

Am I jumping the gun to wash my hands of D Pierce? If Zak Moss can boomerang from complete bust to something useful, you would think there's plenty of time for Pierce in an offense that's a better fit.

I'm hanging on. A lot of people have dropped him, fair for me to say he's like my last man or two on my 20 team rosters, but just the same I'm trying to hang on. In all formats fwiw, dynasty and redraft.

He's clearly the RB2 and while Mixon's been pretty durable he carried a massive load last week and sounds like that might continue.

The hammy sucks, maybe out a few weeks but that's not the worst thing in the world as he's no one you are counting on anyway.

The coaching staff obviously likes him a lot but there is certainly a scenario were Akers gets a shot and just usurps him for the backup role. Not what I'm pullin for but even in that scenario it might just make them open to moving Pierce before the deadlne.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

^^^^ Trade deadline is probably a good minimum point to hang on to.

Unfortunately, I've held out hope playing that angle so many times on underperforming, underutilized players that seem like an obvious fit to benefit from a change of scenery. It never seems to come to fruition, but maybe this will be the year.