Player
Dameon Pierce
RB · Texans
Pierce's efficiency gap between heavy-load and light-load usage is the signal most depth charts miss — a back who posts 4.23 YPC with volume but gets used as a spot carrier will never reach that ceiling. The workload drought, not athletic decline, explains his career trajectory.
In 14 games with 15+ carries Pierce averages 4.23 YPC — but he hasn't gotten that workload since Week 13 of 2023.
TrendPierce YPC split by workload (career)
| Carries | Games | Total Car | Total Yds | YPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15+ carries | 14 | 273 | 1,154 | 4.23 |
| < 15 carries | 23 | 146 | 530 | 3.63 |
When Pierce gets a true bell-cow workload (15+ carries), he posts 4.23 YPC on 273 carries — a number that would rank him in the top half of NFL starters. The problem: his last 15-carry game was 2023 Week 13. Every subsequent season has been sub-15-carry usage, capping his YPC ceiling.
His career arc is less "declined" than "starved": 2022's back-to-back 20+ carry weeks built his reputation, and the volume never came back.
Pierce 15+ carry games by season
| Season | Games w/ 15+ car | YPC in those games |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 9 | 4.45 |
| 2023 | 4 | 2.97 |
| 2024 | 1 (Wk 18) | 9.26 |
| 2025 | 0 | — |
Why it matters. Pierce's efficiency gap between heavy-load and light-load usage is the signal most depth charts miss — a back who posts 4.23 YPC with volume but gets used as a spot carrier will never reach that ceiling. The workload drought, not athletic decline, explains his career trajectory.
Week 18 of 2024: 176 yards on 19 carries — the best single game of his career, two full seasons after his rookie year.
RareDameon Pierce career top games (rushing yards)
| Yr | Wk | Opp | Car | Yds | YPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 18 | TEN | 19 | 176 | 9.26 |
| 2022 | 9 | PHI | 27 | 139 | 5.15 |
| 2022 | 4 | LAC | 14 | 131 | 9.36 |
| 2022 | 5 | JAX | 26 | 99 | 3.81 |
| 2022 | 10 | NYG | 17 | 94 | 5.53 |
In 2024 Week 18 vs Tennessee — a meaningless season finale where Houston had already locked its playoff seed — Pierce ran for 19 carries, 176 yards, 1 TD, 9.26 YPC. His career-best rushing game, delivered two seasons after his rookie year and on just his 4th double-digit carry game since 2023.
The pattern is clear: when Pierce gets 15+ carries, he's still a competent back. He just never got that volume again after that game.
Why it matters. A career-best game in a throwaway Week 18 is a signal that Pierce's tools haven't eroded — the Texans simply moved on. For any team in a RB emergency, that game is on film.
Career YPC by year: 4.27 → 2.87 → 7.33 → 2.57 — strip out 2024 Week 18 and his 2024 YPC drops to 5.57 on 21 carries.
SplitCareer YPC by season
| Season | Yards per carry |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.27 |
| 2023 | 2.87 |
| 2024 | 7.33 |
| 2025 | 2.57 |
2024 season decomposed
| Scope | Carries | Rush Yds | YPC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full 2024 | 40 | 293 | 7.33 |
| Week 18 only | 19 | 176 | 9.26 |
| 2024 ex-Week 18 | 21 | 117 | 5.57 |
The 7.33 YPC in 2024 looks like a rebound on paper, but it's a 40-carry season dominated by the one massive Week 18 game (176 yards on 19 carries). Strip that game out and his 2024 YPC drops to 5.57 across 21 carries — still respectable, but on micro-volume.
The 2.57 YPC across 2025 confirms the trend: Houston had moved on to Joe Mixon and then Woody Marks, and Kansas City claimed Pierce for a 1-week emergency look.
Why it matters. The 7.33 career-season YPC creates a misleading headline number; the decomposition shows a back running on nearly no carries in non-garbage-time reps, with one outlier game inflating the whole season metric.
139 yards on 27 carries vs the eventual SB-finalist Eagles in Week 9 of 2022 — only D'Andre Swift had more against that defense all season.
MilestoneRBs with 100+ rushing yards vs PHI in 2022 regular season
| Player | Wk | Car | Yds | YPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D'Andre Swift | 1 | 15 | 144 | 9.60 |
| Dameon Pierce | 9 | 27 | 139 | 5.15 |
In 2022 Week 9 — with the Philadelphia Eagles on their way to Super Bowl LVII — Pierce ran for 139 yards on 27 carries against them. Only D'Andre Swift (144 yds, Wk 1) eclipsed that output against the Eagles all season.
That Texans team finished 3-13-1, but Pierce's rookie season (939 yds, 4 TD, 4.27 YPC) was the building block that earned him starter trust in Houston.
Why it matters. Running for 139 yards against an elite defense on a 3-win team is the kind of performance that gets a rookie onto a future team's radar — Pierce's tape against PHI showed he could handle heavy workloads against top defenses.
Career 419 carries for 1,684 yards — 55.8% of his entire rushing-yard total came in his first 13 NFL games.
AnomalyCareer totals breakdown
| Period | Games | Car | RYds | % of career |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 (rookie) | 13 | 220 | 939 | 55.8% |
| 2023-2025 | 29 | 199 | 745 | 44.2% |
Across four NFL seasons (42 games), Pierce has 419 carries for 1,684 yards and 8 TDs. 55.8% of that yardage came in his 13-game rookie year alone — a brutal compression of value into the first portion of his career.
The 2023 collapse (2.87 YPC on 145 carries) coincided with the arrival of Devin Singletary and a healthier Texans receiving corps. The Singletary → Mixon pipeline at RB1 has kept Pierce in a complementary role he's never escaped.
Why it matters. A running back concentrating more than half his career yardage into 13 games is extremely rare — it reflects both an unusually hot start and an unusually sharp workload cliff, making Pierce's career arc a cautionary tale about RB opportunity.
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