The Texans are awaiting confirmation on which players they will and will not have in Week 10. They’ve used Woody Marks as their starting running back for several weeks, but that may be changing. Marks has had knee discomfort since Wednesday, while David Montgomery is at practice and trending toward playing. Here is everything you fantasy managers need to know.
The past three Texans games have been played without Montgomery. In that span, Marks has run the football 52 times. The team’s backup running back has changed hands in each of those games, but they have combined for 12 carries.
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The Texans’ depth chart lists Dare Ogbunowale as their RB3, but it’s really Emari Demercado. In Week 9, Demercado had six rushing attempts while Ogbunowale had none.
Nonetheless, the Texans’ starting running back is the only viable option. Let’s review all three possible scenarios for Week 10.
Marks is dealing with mild knee discomfort. He left practice early on Wednesday and didn’t practice on Thursday. If he plays, he’ll likely be limited. Honestly, I think the Texans would be happy to pass, given CJ Stroud’s excellent season. He nearly threw for 400 yards last week.
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Marks has nearly 80% of this rushing offense over his last three games. If Marks played and Montgomery sat, I’d see Marks’ workload drop to about 60% and Demercado’s rise. If active, I dislike Marks this week.
This sounds like the more probable scenario as of Thursday afternoon. Montgomery hasn’t played since Week 5, but given that he is at practice, we can be optimistic that if he does play, he can handle a heavy workload.
If Montgomery plays and Marks does not, Montgomery is an auto-start in fantasy football. Their offense can easily support Montgomery as a mid-tier RB2 with RB1 upside when Marks is out.
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In Week 9, the backup running back was Demercado. He ran the football six times and played 16 snaps. The backup listed on the Texans’ depth chart, Ogbunowale, ran the ball zero times in Week 9. In fact, he had zero snaps on rushing plays and a total of eight snaps.
Demercado would be the projected backup, but I would not be overly confident in his ability to perform to a high level.
The Cowboys had rostered Demercado in Weeks 1 and 2, then cut him. He was on and off with the Cardinals a year ago, but they ultimately weren’t impressed. The brutal truth is that if you keep flipping from team to team, you might not be very good.
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Demercado would be risky here; you cannot be surprised if Ogbunowale flips and takes a bigger piece of the pie. I would rank Demercado in the ~RB25 range, but with low upside. He would not be expected to be inserted into many high-leverage red-zone situations.
