Injured Tank Dell ‘crushing rehab, doing phenomenal,’ Texans not rushing return, Nico Collins’ message: ‘I miss you bro’

HOUSTON – All summer, Tank Dell has been a fixture at football camps in support of the community and offering encouraging words to young athletes.

Attitude is central to the outlook for the injured Texans wide receiver.

Dell hasn’t conducted interviews since suffering a gruesome knee injury last December against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. He is in good spirits, though, and has made

Dell is making significant progress in his recovery in terms of mobility, flexibility and activity, per sources. While Dell is expected to begin the season on injured reserve and will likely miss the entire season, per league sources, the team hasn’t been specific about his time table other than to emphasize how well he’s doing.

Dell has undergone two successful surgical procedures as part of the aftercare needed to deal with extensive damage to his left knee suffered while catching a touchdown pass.

Dell had his anterior cruciate ligament repaired with a standard reconstruction procedure. And he had his lateral collateral ligament and medial collateral ligaments repaired as former Texans team doctor Walter Lowe performed both procedures, per league sources.

“For Tank, he’s doing great,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said Wednesday as Dell was placed on the active-physically unable to perform list. “He’s crushing the rehab. He’s doing phenomenal. Really great headspace. Great to see him just in our meetings into it. So, whenever Tank is ready to go back, he’ll be back.

“We’re not putting a timeline on Tank to define he has to be back this season or this particular time. I’m concerned about Tank as a young man, just getting back healthy, physically and mentally. When that time is set, he’ll be back for us.”

Although it’s going to be an extremely long road back, the former University of Houston standout is expected to eventually make a full recovery, per sources, and have the opportunity to resume his career at some point, likely by the 2026 season. Dell dislocated his entire knee, too, in addition to tearing three knee ligaments.

Inside the Texans training facility, Dell works overtime to recover from a devastating and complicated knee injury with major progress afoot.

Dell is inspirational to his teammates, including Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins.

“Yeah, man, you know, Tank, he wants to be out here,” Collins said. “We got to continue to keep his spirits up, tell him we out here for you. Be in his corner no matter what. You know, like nobody want to miss the game you love. It’s heartbreaking, it’s crushing when you can’t be out there with your brothers.

“You see them every day and you’re like, dang, I miss you bro, you know what I’m saying. We know in spirit he’s getting better, so we’re going to go out here keep spinning it for him and make plays for him and keep his spirits up. We going to pick up where we left off. He’s in great spirits, though.”

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Dell suffered a season-ending injury while catching a pass in the back of the end zone when teammate Jared Wayne collided with his leg.

“This is a much more difficult recovery than just an ACL, it’s a knee dislocation with three of four major ligaments torn and it’s a long road back,” former 17-year NFL team head doctor David Chao, an orthopedic surgeon and the owner of Sports Injury Central, a website that analyzes sports injuries, told KPRC 2. “Unfortunately, it has to be considered career threatening, but we all hope not career-ending. Surgery is usually staged with this severe an injury. Whatever you can repair, you repair now, the MCL and LCL. The ACL is typically a reconstruction and you delay that until later when swelling goes down and there’s more mobility.

“A typical recovery timetable, it would be great if he could participate at some point next season, but it’s far from guaranteed he will play at any point next season. It’s similar to what happened with Browns running back Nick Chubb. They’re both knee dislocations, but not all knee dislocations are the same. This is a much more complicated surgery process than an isolated ACL and, as such, it’s going to be multiple surgeries and lots of follow-up. As much as this is a devastating injury, Nick Chubb did return to play his next season. Let’s hope for a similar good outcome for Tank Dell.”

PREVIOUS: A crushing blow for Texans: Tank Dell suffers ‘significant’ knee injury, a dislocated knee cap, team upset, emotional

The knee injury marked the latest adversity for Dell whose dynamic rookie season last year was ended prematurely by a broken fibula that required surgery to repair the damage. Months later, Dell was the victim of a gunshot wound in his leg during a mass shooting in Florida while attending a party as an innocent bystander.

Dell posted a broken heart on social media as well as an inspirational video on TikTok with the caption: “When you want something so bad, you got a different attachment to it.” with the hashtag #noretreatnosurrender.

“Yeah, making progress,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio said. “One day at a time, but Tank’s had a good attitude. Been in the building essentially every day. He is working really hard. We’re not going to put any timetables on anything. If he’s ready to play, great. If he’s not, he’s not. We’ll take it as it comes.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com