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Joe Mixon Sassily Claps Back at Report Claiming He Won't Play in 2025

It seems Mixon has called B.S.

Brigid Kennedy

Mixon has been dealing with a foot injury for months now.
Mixon has been dealing with a foot injury for months now. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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We finally got some Joe Mixon injury news, only for the waters to muddy again shortly after.

On Thursday, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Mixon is unlikely to play in the 2025-26 season. The Texans running back has been on the reserve/physically unable to perform list since the year began as he works his way back from a foot injury suffered during the offseason.

A few hours later, however, Mixon seemingly called B.S.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the one-time Pro Bowler insinuated that Rapoport's report was incorrect by asking, "I'm just curious, Ian how do you know more about me than me?"

The RB also tagged his agent, Peter Schaffer, in what was either an attempt at telling Schaffer to do something about Rapoport's tweet or a call-out for perhaps leaking info about the injury to the NFL insider.

For his part, Schaffer cryptically replied: "The truth and what comes out of his mouth is mere coincidence."

The severity and nature of Mixon's foot injury have been somewhat of a mystery for months now. The running back did not participate in any of the team's offseason training or activities, including OTAs, and was placed on the non-football injury list at the end of training camp. It seemed like he would come back later in the season, when he was eligible, but that date has already passed and nothing has happened.

Mixon played his lone season with the Texans in 2024, when he rushed for 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns. Prior to that, he spent seven seasons with the Bengals.

On Nov. 18, Houston GM Nick Caserio gave an update on the possibility of Mixon taking the field in 2025, but was notably light on details.

"It’s just a very gray situation," Caserio said on SportsRadio 610's Payne & Pendergast. "Joe’s worked at it and there are times when he’s made progress, and other times when the progress just kind of stalled there a little bit."

"Players in his status or situation are on the reserve list until they’re not," Caserio went on. "So, Joe’s doing everything he can. Obviously, we’re getting pretty late in the game here. So, I don’t want to establish any sort of expectations."

Now, here we are. So yeah, it really doesn't seem like Mixon will be able to suit up for this year's campaign. But perhaps we'll leave the possibility on the table for now, primarily because of his post.

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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.

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