Dell showed exactly what he was capable of in 2023, posting 47 receptions, 709 yards and seven touchdowns in 11 games alongside Nico Collins.

This time, he appeared in 13 contests and hit one fewer target (74) while recording 45 catches for 569 yards and two touchdowns. His yards per reception dropped from 15.1 to 12.6 and he looked a little slower at times.

This is to be expected due to a season-ending leg injury, not to mention Dell suffered a gunshot wound in April.

He had to recover from both, but that didn’t stop Houston from crowning Houston the NFL’s future best after quarterback CJ Stroud had his own exemplary rookie season and the addition of former All-Pro wideout Stefon Diggs.

However, Diggs suffered a torn ACL in Week 8 and while Collins continued his rise, Dell and – to a lesser extent – Stroud both underperformed.

The offense is in exactly the same place in scoring as it was last year, 13th, but is averaging 23.4 points per game compared to 22.2. The team’s offensive yards fell from 12th in the league to 19th as they produced 18.2 fewer yards per game.

It’s minimal, but these numbers are impressive for what was expected.

Still, Dell and Co. still have three games left to build on before the playoffs, with the next two coming against heavyweights – today against the AFC’s No. 1 seed Kansas City Chiefs and on Christmas Day against the Baltimore Ravens , which knocked them out of the playoffs last season.

“We definitely want to send messages to opposing teams,” Dell said. “We are concentrating on one game at a time. That’s just our way of thinking.”

“To take that into account, I continue to focus on the details and really focus on the things that I need to improve. I look back at the season I had and what I messed up and just try to move forward.”