Eagles, Texans get golden returns on offseason pickups following award-winning Week 1 efforts

The Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles may have struck gold this offseason in their acquisitions of running backs Joe Mixon and Saquon Barkley, respectively.

Houston landed Mixon in a March trade with the Cincinnati Bengals while Philadelphia poached Barkley from the rival New York Giants on a three-year, $37.75M deal.

Both Mixon and Barkley led their new squads to Week 1 wins with award-winning efforts.

The pair of former Pro Bowlers were among a flurry of big-name running backs to swap teams in the offseason, joining the likes of Aaron Jones, Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard.

Jones and Pollard had strong debuts with the Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans, respectively, with both players scoring touchdowns, but Pollard's came in a losing effort. King Henry found the end zone as well but was used sparingly in the second half of the Baltimore Ravens' Week 1 "Thursday Night Football" defeat against the Kansas City Chiefs, recording 46 rushing yards on 13 carries for the game.

Jacobs posted 84 yards on the ground via 16 carries to go with 20 yards on two catches in his Green Bay Packers debut, but the team fell to Barkley's Eagles in Brazil on Friday.

With victories and monster stat lines, both Barkley and Mixon were the clear standout running backs in Week 1.

The former Bengal led the league in rushing attempts (30), rushing yards (159) and rushing first downs (nine) in the Texans' 29-27 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Mixon's carries tied a career high, his rushing yards were third-most across his seven-plus seasons and he caught all three of his targets for 19 additional yards.

Barkley was the only running back to score twice on the ground in Week 1 (quarterbacks Jayden Daniels and Josh Allen had two rushing touchdowns) and he added a receiving score as well. The Penn State product finished with 109 rushing yards on 24 carries and two catches for 23 yards to help Philadelphia in its 34-29 win over Green Bay.

It's too early to say that Barkley and Mixon were the two best pickups over the offseason, but they're certainly making both Houston and Philadelphia brass look wise early in their tenures with new teams.