Nick Chubb Trending Toward Exit From Texans

The Houston Texans might be losing out on one of their running backs from this past season moving into this coming offseason, as Nick Chubb, one of the many free agents on the roster set to hit the open market, could be trending towards a departure after just one year with the team.

The Houston Chronicle's Jonathan M. Alexander recently dove into some of the Texans’ potential plans concerning their backfield with their offseason now officially underway, noting the expectation that Chubb isn't likely to be brought back by the front office.

"While [Dare] Ogunbowale could return, Chubb likely won't. So regardless, Houston will need to fill that [running back] spot," Alexander wrote in his latest mailbag.

Of course, anything can change over the course of a long NFL offseason, and the Texans could hash something out with their veteran running back to suit up for another season. But based on the information we have now, a return to Houston isn't the most likely direction for Chubb to take with his pending free agency in the coming months.

Nick Chubb Trending Towards Departure From Texans

Chubb was initially brought onto the Texans late in the 2025 offseason on a one-year, $2.5 million deal as a veteran depth piece to bring into Houston's backfield that, at the time, was suspected to be led by Joe Mixon before being ruled out for the year with a foot injury.

Chubb would eventually fill in next to rookie Woody Marks throughout the season as the two featured ball carriers in the backfield for the extent that Mixon was out, while others like Dare Ogunbowale and Dameon Pierce sat behind them in the depth chart.

At the beginning of the season, Chubb had carved out a considerable role in the Texans' backfield with over double-digit carries in six of his first eight games, but would soon hand over more and more carries to his rookie counterpart in Marks, and had five carries or less in over half of his games from Week 9 onwards.

In 15 games played, Chubb put together 122 rushes for 506 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 4.1 yards per carry in what was his first, and potentially only, season in Houston.