a traumatic experience
Houston Texans star Tank Dell opens up about Florida shooting
Jun 4, 2024, 3:49 pm
We expect big things from Tank Dell this season. Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images.
As Houston Texans receiver Tank Dell recovered in the hospital after being wounded in a Florida restaurant shooting, one question dominated his thoughts.
“The only thing I was asking (was) am I going to be all right to play football? Like that was my main thing,” Dell said Tuesday. “Will I be OK to run and play football like I’d been doing?”
Doctors soon told him that the gunshot wound to his leg was a flesh wound that would leave no permanent damage.
“So, once they told me it was just like a through and through, once they told me that and was like, ‘You’ll be good,’ I was ready to go,” Dell said.
The second-year player said he was sidelined for only about a week after the April shooting in Sanford, Florida, that wounded nine others before resuming his workouts to prepare for the season.
“It’s just a blessing that I’m safe,” said Dell, who is from Daytona Beach. “But it’s a traumatic experience.”
Dell has completely recovered from the shooting and was a full participant in Houston’s minicamp Tuesday. He shined in the more than hourlong practice, grabbing several passes from C.J. Stroud.
Dell said he’s moved on from the shooting with the help of his faith, family, friends and those in the Texans organization. He attends church once a week and prays each morning and night.
“I got God on my side, keep him first in everything I do,” he said. “So, I feel good. I’ve got the right group of guys around me, keeping my head up, my mom, my pops, people back home, my grandmother, everybody praying for me and just calling me checking in every day now.”
Dell was drafted in the third round in 2023 after a standout career at the University of Houston. He had 709 yards receiving and set a franchise rookie record with seven touchdown receptions last season before breaking his left fibula in December.
After missing time with that injury, then dealing with the aftermath of the shooting, Dell is happy simply to be back on the field.
“It’s a blessing just to be out there just running around,” he said. “I don’t even have to get the ball, just running around and just running routes and just feeling love from my team makes it feels great.”
Stroud, who counts Dell among his best friends on the team, raved about how hard he’s worked to get back after all he’s endured in the last few months.
“This football stuff, it seems like it’s everything, but it’s not,” Stroud said. “We’re people and we go through a lot off the field that people don’t know. And as his brother I have to be there for him just like he’s there for me. I’m just proud of him; the word proud isn’t even probably enough to state the feelings that I have for that guy.”
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C.J. Stroud faced criticism in Houston's last few games as the Texans hit a rough patch after losing just two of their first eight games.
But the second-year quarterback remained confident and his strong performance last Sunday helped the Texans (8-5) to a 23-20 win over the Jaguars to enter their bye with a two-game lead atop the AFC South.
“When he is leading and playing the way he is playing, our entire team feeds off of him,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “I am excited for his second year. I think he is showing a ton of growth, he is in a really great spot for us physically, mentally. I really love where he is and I am excited to see how he comes back after the break.”
Stroud threw for 242 yards and a touchdown against Jacksonville to leave him ranked fourth in the NFL with 3,117 yards passing this season. That game came after he threw two interceptions in a 32-27 loss to Tennessee a week before for the team’s third loss in four games.
Those two interceptions brought his season total to nine, which are four more than he threw in 15 games a rookie. But the Texans aren’t worried about that statistic and believe he has grown in his second year.
“He’s made a lot of progress,” general manager Nick Caserio said. “There are some plays, like all of our players, that we probably wish he could have back, but happy he’s our quarterback, happy with what he brings to the table. ... Wouldn’t want anyone else leading this team.”
The Texans are in position to win their division for a second straight season despite dealing with several significant injuries on offense. Running back Joe Mixon missed three games early with an ankle injury and leading receiver Nico Collins was sidelined for five games with a hamstring injury.
They also lost four-time Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs for the season when tore an ACL in Week 8.
Mixon leads the team with 887 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns and has added four touchdown receptions. His work in his first season in Houston after a trade from Cincinnati has helped the team deal with those significant injuries to the receiving corps.
Mixon ranks third in the NFL by averaging 88.7 yards rushing a game and has had at least 100 yards rushing in seven games.
Stroud has continually raved about Mixon’s contributions on and off the field.
“He’s a servant, a helper,” Stroud said. “That’s ultimately what I want to be as well. Who can I serve and how can I help? That’s ultimately what the game of football is.”
While Mixon has been the team’s most important new acquisition on offense, Danielle Hunter has been Houston’s new defensive star. The defensive end spent his first eight seasons in Minnesota before joining the Texans this year.
He has helped Houston lead the NFL with 84 tackles for loss after piling up 15 this season, which is tied for third most in the league. He also leads the Texans with 10½ sacks to help them rank second with 42.
Hunter been a great addition to a team that already had defensive end Will Anderson Jr., last year’s AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. Anderson ranks second to Hunter on the team with 13 tackles for loss and 9½ sacks.
Ryans said this week’s break is much needed for a team that opened the preseason on Aug. 1 in the Hall of Fame game.
“It’s here and we’re going to take advantage of it,” he said. “We’ve been going at it for a long time.”
The Texans need to recharge this week with a brutal stretch of three games in 10 days when they return from their bye. Houston hosts Miami on Dec. 15 before a trip to Kansas City on Dec. 21 and a visit from the Ravens on Christmas Day.
“It’s Christmas and all that, but we can’t worry about that. All we can do is focus on Miami,” Caserio said. “And then when we get through the Miami game, then we kind of turn the page to the next. ... We’re either going to earn it or we’re not. Not to oversimplify it, but that’s the truth.”
The Texans will play those game without starting linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair after he received a three-game suspension for his violent hit to the head of Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence, which led to a concussion.
Al-Shaair will be eligible to return for Houston’s regular-season finale against Tennessee.