Lamar Miller was carted off the field following a nasty hit to his lower body by Cowboys defensive lineman Malick Collins during the opening possession of Saturday's preseason game between Houston and Dallas. (Warning: the link above may be too graphic for some readers). Luck's knee bent awkwardly in the wrong direction, and he remained down on the field while the cart was brought out.
News regarding the injury's severity took a while to trickle out, but according to a report from ESPN.com's Adam Schefter, the Texans fear that Miller may have torn his ACL. There will be an MRI to confirm the diagnosis.
Texans fear RB Lamar Miller tore his ACL, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 25, 2019
Miller, the Texans' starting running back, is an eight-year veteran who is coming off his first Pro Bowl season. In 14 regular season games in 2018, Miller rushed for 973 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 4.6 yards per carry.
Houston's backup running back is Duke Johnson, who was acquired via a trade with the Cleveland Browns earlier his month. Johnson, a third-round pick in the 2015 draft, rushed for a career low 201 yards last season despite leading the Browns with a 5.0 yards per carry average. He has primarily acted as a third-down and pass-catching back for most of his NFL career, but he is the all-time leading rusher at the University of Miami, where he and Miller both starred during their collegiate careers.
The Texans waived D'Onta Foreman earlier this offseason, so the primary man behind Johnson would likely be Damarea Crockett, an undrafted free agent who has been getting buzz out of Texans camp throughout the offseason. It's possible the Texans could look to bring in another back to handle more of the power and between-the-tackles situations, as a complement to Johnson, but considering the team surrendered a third-round pick for his services, they presumably feel pretty comfortable with him and could give him a starter's workload for what would be the first time in his NFL career.