Texans' Tank Dell Backs C.J. Stroud After Playoff Collapse

Contrary to the widely held belief, the deep loyalty surrounding the future of Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans does indeed have their breaking point.

After showing three assistant coaches the door, Ryans has sent out a resounding message to the masses, one that left everyone in no doubt that the Texans organization can't and won't stand for treading playoff water.

Sending tight end coach Jake Moreland and offensive assistant Mike Snyder on their way sent out a brutal message that things need to improve moving forward on the offensive side of the ball.

Even so, not nearly as powerful as Ryans' move was to keep offensive coordinator Nick Caley in-house to maintain critical continuity levels with quarterback C.J. Stroud.

Stroud is the one seismic figure whom everybody appears to be circling the wagons around, questioning whether or not he really is worthy of being the Texans' lead signal caller of the future.

Approaches may well differ, but explosive slot wide receiver Tank Dell was clear in his approach when it came to throwing his weight behind his embattled signal caller: he’s riding with his guy.

"People could say what they want about 7 [C.J. Stroud]. They sitting on the couch, and just typing on the computer, or typing on their phones," Dell said. "Everybody knows who 7 is, especially in the facility. We know who he is. When I get, when we get back out there with him, it's gonna be special. So we could let them say what they want about him."

Texans' Tank Dell Remains Confident in C.J. Stroud

Dell is certainly confident that inserting himself back into the lineup after missing the whole of last season can help out his quarterback no end.

There's little doubt that getting Dell back only adds to the plethora of offensive weapons Stroud already has at his disposal; it does also give the Texans' superstar, talented signal caller one less excuse for performing like he did in his latest playoff outing.

In truth, Stroud had plenty of weapons to get him through the playoff game against the New England Patriots. If only he’d taken better care of the ball, the results may have differed.