As a 4th round rookie out of Florida last season, Dameon Pierce bursted onto the scene for the Houston Texans at running back, putting together a near rookie of the year campaign finishing with just under 1,000 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns on 4.3 yards per carry in just 13 games. Pierce was expected to have a huge sophomore campaign in the 2023 NFL season, with new head coach DeMeco Ryans and new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik bringing along the Shanahan run friendly offensive scheme, along with the coaching staff singing Dameon’s praises all offseason. Despite all of this positivity leading up to the season, Dameon Pierce has had an outright horrible 2nd year for the Texans at running back, and has gotten completely phased out of the offense in favor of Devin Singletary. So, in todays episode of MTS Mike Talks Sports, I dive into Dameon Pierce’s sophomore slump and his overall play and situation in Houston this season in order to determine: What happened to Dameon Pierce? Why is he so bad this season and who is to blame for this? What does the future look like for Pierce in the NFL? Pierce ended his great rookie year with a high ankle sprain, and I believe this injury has lingered all season and has slowed him down a bit. Also, per texanswire.usatoday.com, Pierce has seen an average of 7.12 defenders in the box per play (3rd most in the NFL) and leads the NFL in percentage of plays that are met at the line of scrimmage. I believe the offensive line is struggling to adjust to this new blocking scheme, and I believe some of the holes in Dameon’s game is also exacerbating the issue. Thanks for watching todays episode of MTS, let me know in the comment section below, what’re your thoughts on Dameon Pierce and do you agree with my takes in this video? If you enjoyed todays episode of MTS I really appreciate it, smack that like and hit subscribe.