Jo'Quavious Marks Fantasy Overview

2024 Summary

College Production

Marks enters the NFL with an impressive resume in terms of raw college receiving production. He totaled 261 catches across five seasons, with 40+ catches in four of his five campaigns.

Marks led Mississippi State with 60 grabs as a true freshman in 2020 and ranked second on the team with a whopping 83 catches in 2021. Marks again ranked second on the Bulldogs with 48 receptions in 2022 before dipping to 23 catches in an injury-shortened 2023. He transferred to USC this past year, and his receiving acumen followed him west. Marks tied for second on the Trojans with 47 grabs.

Efficiency Metrics

But a deeper dive reveals plenty of warts in Marks’ profile.

While the receiving volume was strong, the efficiency was middling. Marks averaged just 5.9 yards per catch for his career. None of his 261 catches went for more than 33 yards — and only two went for more than 20.

He averaged a strong 9.0 yards per catch in his final college season but didn’t top 7.3 in any of his first four.

Here are Marks’ ranks in Pro Football Focus receiving grade among RBs with 30+ targets:

• 2020 - 19th out of 24
• 2021 - 12th out of 45
• 2022 - 31st out of 48
• 2023 - 4th out of 48
• 2024 - 17th out of 55

Good, but not dominant.

Marks’ rushing profile is even less exciting. He never topped 121 carries in any of his four seasons at Mississippi State, averaging 9.1 carries per game. Marks handled between 30% and 39% of the Bulldogs’ total carries in all four seasons. And he averaged a subpar (for college) 4.6 yards per carry.

2024 brought career highs for Marks at USC: 198 carries and 1,133 yards on 5.7 yards per carry. He remained in a timeshare, though, taking 55% of the team’s total rush attempts. And his advanced metrics were not good.

Among 31 RBs at the Combine, Marks ranked:

• 27th in yards after contact per attempt
• 29th in missed tackles forced per attempt
• 14th in rush yards over expected per attempt
• 18th in Pro Football Focus rushing grade

Marks also disappointed at the Combine, clocking a 4.54-second 40 time at 207 pounds for a 38th percentile Speed Score. He registered a 6.66 Relative Athletic Score — 17th among 26 RBs who tested at the Combine.

Injury History

Marks only missed three games in his college career, with a hamstring injury in November 2023.

2025 Expectations

Projected Role & Competition

Despite the concerns highlighted above, the Texans made an aggressive move to secure Marks. They sent the 179th overall pick of this year’s draft and a 2026 third-round pick to the Dolphins to move up and take Marks at 116th overall.

That might point to a real role on offense for Marks this season. Houston returns RB Joe Mixon, who was a workhorse last year, averaging 19.3 carries and 3.8 targets per game across 12 full outings. But he turns 29 in July and has a lengthy injury history, so it’d make sense for the Texans to scale back his workload in 2025.

Houston made no other additions to the backfield this offseason and returns RB Dameon Pierce, who averaged only 3.6 carries and 0.4 targets per game last year.

Marks has a good chance to beat out Pierce for the No. 2 RB job this summer.

Supporting Cast

QB C.J. Stroud will look to bounce back after a disappointing sophomore season. He’ll hopefully get a healthier season from WR Nico Collins, who missed five games with a hamstring injury.

The offensive line is the biggest concern in Houston. Last year’s unit ranked bottom nine in Adjusted Line Yards, ESPN run block win rate, and Pro Football Focus run-blocking grades.

Five-time Pro Bowl LT Laremy Tunsil was traded to Washington in March. He’s expected to be replaced by free-agent signing Cam Robinson — a solid player but a clear downgrade from Tunsil.

The Texans also added OT Trent Brown, G Laken Tomlinson, and G Ed Ingram in free agency, plus OT Aireontae Ersery in Round 2 of the draft. But the team will be counting on improved play from C Jarrett Patterson and Gs Tytus Howard and Juice Scruggs.

This still looks like a bottom-10 unit, with the downside to be one of the worst offensive lines in the league.

That’s at least less of a concern for a RB like Marks, who will derive much of his fantasy value from the passing game.

Coaching & Offensive Scheme

The Texans canned OC Bobby Slowik shortly after last season and replaced him with Nick Caley. It will be his first time calling plays at any level, making him a bit of a wild card.

Caley spent the last two seasons working under Sean McVay in Los Angeles, holding the title of TEs coach in 2023 and passing game coordinator last year. He was with the Patriots from 2015 through 2022. Those first seven offenses were led by OC Josh McDaniels.

Based on that history, we’re projecting Caley to run a relatively balanced offense in terms of run/pass split.

Caley said this offseason that the Texans will be a "game-plan team," adjusting their attack based on opponent matchups and player strengths.

Production & Efficiency Trends

What should we expect from Marks this season based on draft capital? The range of outcomes is wide.

21 RBs were drafted between picks 96 and 136 over the previous five drafts (within 20 picks in either direction of Marks).

• Three of those 21 averaged 11+ PPR points per game as rookies, led by Bucky Irving’s 14.4 last year.
• But nine of the 21 scored fewer than 2.1 points per game.
• And only six reached 7 points per game, which is around RB50 level.