Tank Dell back in Texans drills after a gruesome knee injury, eyeing a stronger return

HOUSTON (AP) — In the days after Tank Dell suffered a gruesome knee injury in December 2024, the Houston Texans receiver wrote down a goal as he faced a daunting road back.

“I want to come back better than where I was,” Dell said Friday.

After missing all last season recovering from a dislocated knee and multiple torn knee ligaments, Dell rejoined the Texans this week in a limited capacity for team drills as he moves closer to his long-awaited return.

“We’re taking our time with Tank, allowing him to come along as he needs to in his time,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “But he’s doing an outstanding job with it. He looked really nice today. Nice and crisp running his routes.”

It was a long and winding road to get back that involved near constant work with Dell saying that he never took a day off, even doing rehabilitation on Sundays. It was a path that taught the 26-year-old an important lesson.

“The patience, man,” he said. “I’ve never in my life sat out for a whole year. So, it was so hard. But at a certain point you have to accept it for what it is and just get to work. So, it was a long journey, but I was patient enough and I’m getting close.”

Dell said once he got healthy, the biggest hurdle in his return to the field was simply trusting that his surgically repaired knee would hold up. A talk with his doctor where he told him that his knee was 100% stable and to just be himself gave him the push he needed to do that.

“The mental aspect is the hardest thing you’ve got to get over,” he said. “So, if I went out there iffy about what I’m doing then I probably would never be able to come back to what I want to be. So, I was out there just trusting it, putting my foot in the ground, trying to be explosive and it’s working in my favor.”

His most recent injury wasn’t the only one Dell has dealt with since the Texans drafted him in the third round in 2023 following a standout career at the University of Houston. His rookie season, where he scored seven touchdowns, was cut short when he broke his leg in Week 13.

Before he was injured again the following season he had developed into a favorite target of quarterback C.J. Stroud and had 51 receptions for 667 yards and three scores.

Dell and Stroud are close friends and the receiver said his friendship during his rehabilitation meant “everything” to him.

“In this long process, he was with me the whole time, from the first day it happened to today,” Dell said. “Long conversations about the future that we want to build with each other on the field. But off the field just being a brother to me.”

Stroud can’t wait to play with Dell again.

“I’m just excited for him to get the peace of mind that he can go play again and be 100% while he’s doing it,” Stroud said.

That may take a bit longer with both Ryans and Dell refusing to directly answer when asked if he’ll be ready for Week 1.

“There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Dell said. “I’ll be out there, but right now we’re just taking it one day at a time.”

Dell is a fan favorite as well as a favorite among his teammates with everyone rooting for him to put this injury behind him and contribute this season.

“You want to see that comeback story come to life,” Ryans said. “Whenever that happens we’re all going to be joyful for him.”

And when he does make his much-anticipated return Dell has very clear expectations for himself.

“I’m trying to make plays,” he said. “I’m trying to be a big factor on the team.”

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Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell greets fans during "Back Together Weekend" at the team's NFL football training camp in Houston, Saturday, August 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell works out during the team's NFL football training camp in Houston, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell works out during the team's NFL football training camp in Houston, Friday, August 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell (1) greets head coach DeMeco Ryans during the team's NFL football training camp in Houston, Friday, August 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Police released video Friday of a mass shooting that killed three people at an Idaho In-N-Out Burger, and heaped praise on a bystander who engaged the gunman on a trail, slowing him down and possibly preventing more deaths as authorities were catching up.

The video revealed more details of a chaotic scene in Twin Falls last weekend. The gunman walked up to the drive-thru window four times and opened fire, killing an In-N-Out employee, police said.

A total of 10 people were shot — inside the restaurant, directly outside, on an adjacent busy road and at a nearby visitors center lot, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks said.

Hicks said at a news conference that investigators still don’t have a motive for the shooting. The gunman, Chad Williams, 24, killed himself.

“What happened here was violent, frightening and deeply traumatic,” Hicks said.

It should have been a “normal Saturday afternoon,” he said. “Employees showing up for work. Visitors coming to see our beautiful city. Instead they were confronted with chaos, fear and now loss.”

As the shooting unfolded, employees from nearby stores fled to a walking trail. When the gunman headed to the trail, he came across two people, including one with his hands in the air talking to him, according to the video.

He distracted the gunman from possibly pursuing others on the trail. Williams subsequently killed himself as police closed in. His body was found near a canyon.

“To that young man, you are a hero,” Hicks said. “Your courage, your composure, your selflessness in that moment likely gave others the time they needed to escape harm. This community is grateful for you, and we will never forget what you did that day.”

Hicks also praised the work of an off-duty state trooper, who shot at Williams from inside the restaurant, and former police officer A.J. James, who was wounded while confronting Williams. Authorities previously credited an armed civilian who fired back and diverted Williams from the restaurant.

James ran toward the sound of gunfire from the drive-thru window and was shot and wounded, while the off-duty officer inside the In-N-Out exchanged gunfire with Williams through the window and directed workers out of the building, Hicks said.

He acted “heroically and unbelievably” to try to slow down the shooter, the police chief said, declining to release the off-duty officer's name.

Braxton Steube said he was the person who encountered Williams on the trail after fleeing a Dick's Sporting Good store.

“I said, ‘I have a family.’ I said, ‘You don’t have to do this. I’ll tell you whatever you want. I’ll do anything,'” Steube told KMVT-TV. “He started to like tear up a bit, it seemed. And he said to me, ‘Just get away from me, man.’”

Steube said the gunman shot at him and missed.

The Twin Falls In-N-Out, 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of Boise, the state capital, had opened in July as part of the chain’s expansion into Idaho.

Police identified those killed as Ashley Garibay, 23, of Stockton, California; Dale Schultz, 66, of Salt Lake City; and Christopher Claunch, 59, of Hagerman, Idaho.

Williams had briefly attended the College of Southern Idaho and previously lived in Arizona.

This image taken from video provided by the Twin Falls Police Department shows Chad Williams holding a gun and approaching a car in an In-N-Out drive-thru Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Twin Falls, Idaho (Twin Falls Police Department via AP)

A woman prays during a candlelight vigil Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Twin Falls, Idaho, to honor the victims of a recent shooting at a local In-N-Out Burger. (AP Photo/Andrew Eakin)