Will Houston Texans Have a Surprise Team MVP?
Take three different looks at the Houston Texans running back situation and you might come up with three different names for who might lead the 2021 club in carries and rushing and TDs. The case is made here that Mark Ingram is poised to be that No. 1 guy. The case is made here that it'll be Phillip Lindsay. It'll not only be David Johnson, but the incumbent back - not the two veteran free-agent newcomers - will also be the club's most valuable player in 2021. It wont be Watson  or J.J. Watt  or DeAndre Hopkins ... or Will Fuller. Im throwing out David Johnson as the most likely candidate simply because Houston should run the ball a ton ... Yeah, Im probably wrong here  but whos your pick?'' As you can see, NFL.com not only takes a bit of a snarky angle here (in addition to being right, obviously, about Watson, the Watt/Hopkins/Fuller remarks are rather snide), but also exhibits little faith in its own pick. And there are reasons why. Johnson was the lead back a year ago, with 147 carries and six rushing touchdowns. At 29, he could still be "the guy.'' But if Houston had complete faith in that, Ravens ex Ingram wouldn't be here, and Broncos ex Lindsay wouldn't be here, either. Said Johnson: "I think it'll make us all compete because we all want to play, obviously, so we all want to be on the field. Competition is going to make us all better.'' Ingram and Lindsay (who are joined here by yet another vet newcomer in Rex Burkhead) have also talked extensively about the "competition'' that exists in this running backs room. Maybe along with receiver Brandin Cooks and QB Tyrod Taylor, the team MVP could very well emerge from that room. That's anybody's guess.