Fantasy football managers have seen Houston Texans WR Tank Dell going on an absolute tear over the month of November but may have to consider other options after Dell picked up a calf injury against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
Let’s take a closer look at the most recent news on Dell and the potential fantasy impact this injury could have on the Texans offense.
Latest Injury Update on Tank Dell
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans didn’t have a ton of information regarding Dell’s status when he addressed the matter during Wednesday’s press conference. Ryans said, “We’ll see how the week continues to go for Tank [Dell]. We’ll expect him to be okay.”
According to the Texans’ injury report, Dell did not participate in Wednesday’s practice because of a calf injury. The fact that his head coach expressed some optimism regarding his status is encouraging, but his absence from the first practice of the week certainly means it is worth monitoring.
Update: According to a recent report from DJ Bien-Aime, Dell was spotted at Thursday’s practice.
Will Dell Play This Week?
Dell played 80% of the team’s offensive snaps on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which suggests the injury wasn’t catastrophic. However, his failure to get on the practice field on Wednesday means he will likely need to register a limited or full practice session on Thursday or Friday to have a chance to play on Sunday.
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Dell missed one game earlier this season after getting a concussion back in October against the Atlanta Falcons. Dell’s status for this Sunday isn’t in great jeopardy at this moment, but fantasy managers may want to formulate a backup plan if Dell misses Thursday’s practice, which would have clearly been trending in the wrong direction for Week 13.
What Does This Mean for Nico Collin and Noah Brown’s Fantasy Ranking?
Dell has been nothing short of outstanding over the last four games. Over that span, he has 5+ receptions and a score, which helped send him all the way to WR14 on the season in PPR formats.
Part of the reason for his spike in production has to do with his significant jump in volume on a weekly basis over the last four weeks. He has seen a minimum of eight targets during that stretch and has seen 10+ targets in three of those four games. For some context, he had just one game of 8+ targets in the first games of the season.
His role has clearly expanded, which tends to happen for rookies as the season progresses. One could make a real argument that Dell is the best fantasy option of all of the Texans pass catchers. Dell’s 47 receptions for 709 yards and seven scores speak to his stellar rookie season.
However, another player who has been a big contributor regularly throughout the 2023 campaign has been WR Nico Collins, who is currently the WR17 in PPR formats on the season.
Collins actually has more receptions and yards than Dell on the year but slightly trails Dell in the touchdown department, which essentially makes the 1A and 1B combination in this passing attack.
If Dell is unable to go against the Broncos in Week 13, Collins would see a slight bump up the fantasy rankings. He would become a fringe top-15 play at the WR position.
Other players who could benefit from Dell out of the lineup would be Dalton Schultz, Robert Woods, and Noah Brown (if he is able to return to the field this Sunday after missing the last two games due to injury).
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