The Houston Texans backfield was not a position that struck fear into their opponents hearts even before Lamar Miller tore his ACL in the preseason. Now with Miller lost for the entire 2019 season, Houston was forced to scramble up some depth at the position.
After acquiring Duke Johnson from Cleveland and Carlos Hyde from Kansas City, the two could feast on the Carolina run defense who is ranked the ninth worst in the NFL.
This could serve Hyde better, as so far this season he has proved to be Houston's power back, used in their rushing attack more frequently than Johnson. In fact, Johnson has only touched the ball 10 times in the past two games as his snaps continue to drop. Although Hyde is not receiving a crazy amount of touches either, he did out-touch Johnson 10-4 in their win against the Chargers.
If neither Johnson nor Hyde is getting a substantial share in the Houston offense, their fantasy value plummets. With Hyde ranked as the 38th best back in PPR leagues, he hasn't cracked a game scoring over 10 points yet.
Johnson fairs worse, ranked as running back No. 47 so far. Taking out his Week 1 performance that saw him rush for 57 yards and make four catches out of the backfield, Johnson has yet to crack five points in the last two games.
Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson was able to produce only 37 yards on the ground last week, but got his 18.5 PPR performance from making six catches for 28 yards and a score. If Carolina linebackers are going to allow small dump offs or screens this week, as they did last week with David Johnson, that could serve better for Duke Johnson as his primary skill is his ability to make catches out of the backfield.
This week will be a good chance to see if either of these Texans running backs deserve to even be rostered. With no consistency or real production shown so far, one cannot trust starting either in their lineup.
I would expect to see Hyde draw the majority of snaps this week as they will inevitably try and test that Carolina run defense. Johnson will get more opportunities than he has in previous weeks, but must make the most of them in order to prove to head coach Bill O'Brien that he needs more touches. Carolina does bring back Bruce Irvin, which may help their run defense, but I predict that it won't largely effect how Houston will run their offense this Sunday.
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