How to Handle Joe Mixon’s Injury in Fantasy Football (Is Cam Akers Worth a Waiver Add?)

Week 2 was an awful one for high-profile injuries in the NFL, and that naturally has had massive ramifications on the fantasy football landscape. One player who has managers worrying is Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon, who injured his ankle in week 2 after looking like an absolute draft steal in Week 1.

Here’s what fantasy football managers should do with Mixon, as well as a look at whether fellow Texans running backs Cam Akers and even Dare Ogunbowale are worth your attention on the waiver wire.

There’s no definitive word on how much time Mixon might miss, but on Monday morning Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans mentioned that it “didn’t look good” and that they’ll evaluate Mixon throughout the week.

Mixon dominated with 159 yards and 1 touchdown on 30 carries in his Texans debut, and any running back getting 30 touches in a game is going to be a top-end fantasy producer. That’s made especially valuable when it’s a talented running back like Mixon and when it’s happening in an elite offense like the Texans. His usage was on pace to be strong again on Sunday night, having seen 5 targets in the passing game to go with his 9 rush attempts before hurting his ankle.

Unless Mixon is ruled out for the season or is expected to return very late, you can’t drop him. It might hurt to have him take up bench space, but he’ll be a must-start when he returns, and you wouldn’t want to head into the fantasy football playoffs realizing you could have had him in your starting lineup.

In the meantime, Mixon vacates that incredible workload, and the valuable role of being RB1 in one of the NFL’s most high-powered offenses.

Enter Cam Akers. While Akers hasn’t looked great since 2022, NFL fantasy and fantasy football managers continue to be way too quick to write off young running backs. The guy is just 25 years old. It’s not like this is someone who is clearly past his prime in his 30’s.

Akers looked very good for the Texans in the preseason, and he stepped in and saw 7 carries plus 1 target while playing just 13 snaps mostly after Mixon went down. If Mixon’s injury is short-term, the Texans probably aren’t going to want to adjust their game plan too much. And that means Akers could be in for a serious workload.

He’s one of my top waiver wire targets of the week, and he’ll be a must-start while Mixon is on the shelf unless Houston brings in outside help with a free agent.

The other Houston RB getting some attention is Dare Ogunbowale. He was already getting a little bit of run with Mixon healthy, but his role doesn’t project to change much. In his ninth NFL season, Ogunbowale has never seen more than 43 carries in a season. He’s primarily a receiver, with 2 carries and 3 targets in his 33 snaps this season. That’s not going to change much without Mixon.

Ogunbowale can be ignored on the waiver wire this week.