Tank Dell is out for the rest of the regular season after undergoing a successful surgery on his fractured Fibula Monday morning.
Fantasy managers are weeping across the country, as the most prolific rookie-to-rookie passing duo we’ve seen since Andy Dalton and A.J. Green is now over for the year between C.J. Stroud and Tank Dell. Dell was injured while run blocking near the goal line for a Dameon Pierce touchdown, and was carted off the field immediately after.
Dell is expected to make a full recovery, and there’s a possibility he returns for the playoffs if his recovery goes smoothly, and the Texans make a deep enough run. In the immediate, he is expected to be placed on IR and won’t return for the regular season. Fantasy Managers can safely drop Dell as they look to replace his production for the Fantasy playoffs.
For the Texans, Stroud is also dealing with the absence of Dalton Schultz, and had his first game in four weeks with under 300 passing yards in week 13 versus the Broncos. This can be attributed to Stroud being forced to play a majority of the game without two of his favorite weapons. Nico Collins becomes the clear cut WR1 in Houston, with Noah Brown set to see increased usage, as well as John Metchie.
Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell (leg) suffered a ...
Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell (leg) looks to be ...
Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell (leg) is making a ...
The Texans star rookie Wide Receiver turned his nickname “Tank” into his official football name after a blistering hot start to the 2023 season.
Tank “don’t call me Nathaniel” Dell has officially put the league on notice after a phenomenal 3-game stretch where he has garnered at least 10 targets and scored a touchdown in each game. Opposing defenses are probably more likely to call him “the king of the out-breaking route” than any other name he’s asking to be called, as he has displayed unreal chemistry with C.J. Stroud on difficult routes that are often reserved for established veterans.
While the name change is a fun story, the real story lies in how Dell and Stroud are propelling the Texans offense to new heights. Dell has established himself as a clear favorite target to Stroud over the other Texans receivers, which is also demonstrated by how closely the two are intertwined as friends off the field. Dell should be considered a must-start going forward, with the ability to creep into top 10 wide receiver rankings on a weekly basis.
Texans Wide Receiver Noah Brown is set to miss at least the next four games on Injured Reserve.
Rookie C.J. Stroud seems to have found his favorite targets in Nico Collins and Robert Woods, who combined for 21 targets in week one. That said, we have a bit more clarity now on who will arise as the WR3 for the Texans. With Brown set to miss at least the next 4 games, you can expect Tank Dell and John Metchie to battle it out for Brown’s role, which led him to play 68% of snaps in week one.
Metchie is working his way back from missing last year battling Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, and missing week 1 of 2023 with a hamstring injury. Metchie returned to practice this week and there’s hope he’ll be playing his first NFL game this weekend.
Rookie Tank Dell played his first NFL game last week and was relatively quiet with 3 catches for 34 yards while playing just under 50% of the snaps. That number is expected to increase with this latest news on Noah Brown. While there is plenty of reason to be hopeful for the long-term outlook of both Metchie and Dell, you can expect them to both have a fairly even split working as the WR3 if they’re both active this Sunday. It’s not quite time to put either in your lineup yet.
