C.J. Stroud

Losing Higgins guts Houston’s secondary downfield element after a rookie campaign of 525 yards and six touchdowns, leaving the offense concentrated around Nico Collins and his alpha Target Share. This perimeter vacancy creates route participation for Xavier Hutchinson while boosting snap rates and designed touches for both Tank Dell and Jaylin Noel.

Outside of Collins commanding high-end Air Yards Share and Target Share, Houston’s ancillary pass-catchers will struggle to produce viable Fantasy Points Per Game in this balanced scheme. Collins is now PlayerProfiler’s WR11 for fantasy football 2026.

Jaylin Noel is out with a finger injury, and this missed practice time creates an immediate setback for a wideout who managed a modest 6.3-percent Target Share in 2026. Meanwhile, Tank Dell avoided the PUP list and reports to camp fully cleared, aiming to reclaim the form from his rookie campaign when he posted 15.0 Fantasy Points Per Game (No. 18) alongside a 26.5-percent Air Yards Share.

Texans GM Nick Caserio said Tank Dell will still be limited in practice for a few weeks. With Dell regaining most, but not all, of his signature agility and explosiveness, he now has a clean path to earn high-target volume in this passing attack, especially with Noel not participating in early training camp practices. Dell is a suddenly a smash at his 198.6 best ball ADP.

UPDATE: Noel (finger) returned to practice on Friday, August 7th and activated from the active/NFI list.

This is music to David Montgomery‘s ears. The Houston Texans dropped their pass rate down to 55.8-percent from Week 13 to Week 18 of 2025, and Caley wants to deploy more multi-tight end sets and heavy personnel packages to extend the offensive line and attack defensive surfaces with creative blocking schemes this season.

Given the Texans feature a top tier defense, a renewed commitment to a heavy, balanced ground attack make perfect strategic sense. Houston’s myriad of WR options also suggests a more diversified wide receiver rotation, lowering the ceiling of Jayden Higgins, Tank Dell, and Jaylin Noel. Though Caley also praised C.J. Stroud for taking a leap this offseason and exuding “a different comfort level,” Montgomery remains best Houston player to target in fantasy football drafts this year.

Jaylin Noel is operating as the primary slot receiver with the first-team offense during offseason practices after recording a 60.1-percent slot rate as a rookie. With Tank Dell‘s role unclear upon return, Noel has faced minimal competition from sixth-round rookie Lewis Bond to secure the role inside.

Noel needs to sustain this momentum into training camp in order to elevate a minimal 6.3-percent rookie Target Share and become a functional fantasy flex option. Houston projects to lean into a quality defense and running game in 2026, making it difficult to buy Noel in fantasy football as a dynamic player in a crowded WR room.

Tank Dell sat out the first session of mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, though he did participate in non-contact drills last week as he works back from a major knee injury. This leaves his baseline projections highly volatile for 2026 after a muted sophomore campaign where he posted a 69.0-percent Snap Share and a 1.59 Yards Per Route Run average.

Training camp execution and summer usage will ultimately reveal whether he can claim a definitive role on a suddenly crowded WR depth chart. Regardless, Houston’s stout defense and low-volume passing game puts a hard ceiling on Dell’s fantasy projection in 2026.