Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell was placed on the Injured Reserve/Designated to Return list in the midst of the team's roster cutdown day this past Sunday. Seemingly, it was due to Dell not making the kind of necessary progress for the team to comfortable enough to pull the trigger on his activation.
It represented a very disappointing development for fans and local media, as many thought Dell had built up enough momentum in his rehab to where a return in week one was conidered feasible. Now, the soonest the team would receive Dell back into the offense would be in week five's road matchup against the Tennessee Titans.
In his press conference today with the media, Texans general manager Nick Caserio provided further insight into the inner workings of Dell's recovery, and how he and the team ultimately came to the current conclusion of his four-week absence to start the campaign.
Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio provides behind-the-scenes insight of Tank Dell's recovery
Provided by Bleacher Report (and Amazon Prime) NFL Insider James Palmer via his X account, Caserio had this to say about Dell's recovery timeline,
"He is close. He is not quite there, which is why he's in the category that he's in. I think we'll have a better idea with a lot of these guys after four weeks, four games, whatever it is. I'd say he's definitely closer now than he was let's say in Training Camp. There's a little bit more work that remains. But overall, he's in pretty good spirits. There are certain things we just have to see. Some of this too, is honestly for him mentally to make sure he has enough confidence that he can go out there and perform the way he's capable of, the way he knows how to.”
This definitely tracks with what we've seen from Houston's start-and-stop approach to Dell's re-introduction throughout training camp. Outside of one brief appearance in team drills --literally one-- the former third-round pick has been seen only on sidelines completing individual drills and conditioning exercises. When Dell was held out of the final week of preseason, that's when it became more of a certainty that he'd be landing on Injured Reserve.
Then, Caserio made it clear that there was a mental element to Dell's recovery that needs to be considered.
Tank Dell has to also clear mental hurdles in his recovery
Like many players before him, it's very likely that Dell has to regain trust with his body as he's recovering. As someone who's earned his way to the NFL with his quickness, agility and downfield spot, the explosive playmaker had to firmly believe that he's truly at 100% before trying to ramp up his movements to where they were before.
His body could be fully healed, but his mind has to allow him to take the risk of finding out how fixed he actually is in real time. Without that confidence, Dell will never be the level of player that his previous glimpses suggested he could become.
In that sense, it's best for Houston and Dell to stay committed to the most complete recovery plan that they can muster for the situation. His career literally depends on both parties getting this next phase of his return right.
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