ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime reports that WR Nico Collins has been QB C.J. Stroud’s favorite target in offseason practices heading into 2023, while Texans’ HC DeMeco Ryans said that WR Tank Dell was “open a lot”.
Nico Collins has suffered from dirt-poor QB play in his short two-year career, so it will be interesting to see what he can do with his best signal-caller to date throwing him passes this year. Collins profiles as the closest thing the Texans have to an X receiver, so his role in the offense should be relatively safe barring a breakout training camp from Texans draft pick Xavier Hutchinson.
Tank Dell, on the other hand, figures to play on the inside in 2023, but he’ll have to beat out Robert Woods for that role if he wants to see the field on anything more than 3-WR sets. If that happens, though, the upside he carries would be realized, and it’s clear that Stroud had a hand in the Texans selecting the former Houston wideout as early as they did in the second round of the draft.