Tank Dell is back on the active roster and is set to play Sunday against the Giants, ending a long wait that kept him out for nearly two years. The Texans activated him from reserve/PUP, putting him in line for his first game since his knee injury shut him down.
For Dell, the return is more than a roster move. He missed the rest of the 2024 season, all of last season and the first six games of this season after dislocating his kneecap and tearing multiple knee ligaments in a Dec. 21, 2024 game against the Chiefs. His rookie season in 2023 had already ended in Week 13 with a broken leg, leaving the Texans to rebuild around a receiver whose availability has been interrupted again and again.
That is why Sunday matters now. The Texans need to see what Dell can give them after so much time away, and they are making room for the game by elevating Bryce Hall and Kenneth Murray from the practice squad. The timing says as much about caution as it does about confidence: Dell is returning, but the team is still hedging its numbers behind him.
His first assignment is simple enough. The harder question is whether he can look like himself after nearly two seasons of stops and starts, because this comeback begins with the same thing that has defined his recent career — proof that his body can hold up long enough for his talent to show.
