Houston

Texans

It’s a rough blow for Noel, who had been extremely efficient on his targets. It does clear up space for some of Houston’s other receivers. The recently-activated Tank Dell and recently-acquired Marvin Harrison Jr. will benefit a bit from one fewer mouth to feed after the Texans come off bye.

Demercado will need to contribute on special teams to be active on game day, and he might also need David Montgomery (groin) to remain sidelined after the Week 8 bye. Demercado does not need to be added in 12-team leagues.

Since the Texans are on bye in Week 8, Noel will not be eligible to return until Week 13 against the Steelers. It’s a tough break for Noel, whose involvement had begun trending upward. Hopefully, his injured reserve placement allows him to hit the ground running when he returns. Noel does not need to be held on benches.

Noel suffered his injury in Sunday’s loss to the Giants and was spotted in a boot after the game. He ran just 15 routes in the game and was held to two catches for -3 yards. Noel is at risk of missing time, but even if he is active, there’s little reason to hold onto him given the suddenly crowded Texans receiver room.

Speaking on Monday with the media, Caserio said that “nobody is discouraged” with how negotiations with Stroud and his agent have gone thus far, saying that the two sides just “couldn’t quite come to an agreement” yet. Stroud is in the fourth year of his rookie contract and had his fifth-year option picked up by the team earlier this offseason. He will be under contract through the 2027 regardless of how negotiations go, but we would expect him to sign a long-term extension at some point next offseason to avoid this becoming an issue come training camp. Despite the Texans’ 2-5 start to the season, Stroud has been mostly solid, throwing for 1,867 yards, 11 touchdowns, and one interception while completing 64.8 percent of his passes.

Noel was spotted in a boot after the game and Ryans confirmed the injury at a post-game scrum. Noel is droppable at this point between the injury and the sudden integration of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Tank Dell.

He did draw a defensive pass interference and a defensive holding, so at least he helped in points per penalty leagues. The Giants had defenders draped all over Collins for the majority of the game, and he was punished when he did catch the ball. It was Collins’ worst box score return since his rookie season, and one of only four games in his career where he was targeted and did not return at least 13 yards. The Texans wideout situation is complicated, but we’d still bet on Collins returning from the bye as a low-end WR1.

Harrison had to come back to the ball in the end zone, one that was placed to his back shoulder by C.J. Stroud to fit it around a zone defender. That was the good. Harrison also added an egregious drop while playing just 13 snaps. Your guess is as good as ours about fantasy value here as we sort through the names. Harrison doesn’t necessarily need to be rostered through his Week 8 bye.

One of the carries came on Houston’s last goal-to-go sequence of the game, where they wound up setting up what looked like a Hutchinson pass only to see him tuck the ball and run. We got nothing. With Tank Dell back and Marvin Harrison Jr. looking for work as well, it would seem that Hutchinson’s days as a FLEX option are over. But we would have said that before this game as well, and Hutchinson wound up with more wideout snaps than anyone but Nico Collins.

He added a two-yard rush on an end around. While it was good to see him back on the field, it should be noted that it looked like his 43-yard catch glanced off Jaylin Noel’s hands and seemed to immaculately find it’s way into Dell’s as he scampered off for some yards after the catch. Dell further confounded the Houston Wideout Situation, playing just 14 snaps. We have no idea what to trust here beyond Nico Collins. Dell seemed to be running just fine, though it sounded like at times his delay in getting up to speed was about recovery. We’ll all get the Week 8 bye to sort this one out. Dell isn’t a must-roster through it.