Tank Dell will play his first game in nearly two years on Sunday when the Texans play the Giants.
The team officially activated the wide receiver back to the active roster from reserve/PUP.
Dell dislocated his kneecap and tore multiple knee ligaments in a Dec. 21, 2024, game against the Chiefs. He missed the rest of that season, all of last season and the first six games of this season with the gruesome knee injury.
Dell’s rookie season of 2023 ended on a broken leg in Week 13.
The Texans also announced they elevated cornerback Bryce Hall and linebacker Kenneth Murray from the practice squad.
Giants Clips
The Giants ruled out a pair of players for Week 7 on Saturday afternoon.
Safety Jevon Holland will not play against the Texans. Holland was listed as questionable due to a concussion, but the move to rule him out suggests that he has not cleared the concussion protocol yet.
The Giants ruled linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and cornerback Greg Newsome out on Friday, so the defense will be shorthanded in several areas as they try to bounce back from last weekend’s loss to the Saints.
Tight end Theo Johnson has also been ruled out. He was listed as doubtful to play due to a neck injury, so it is not a surprise that he will miss the game.
The Texans will be short-handed on Sunday, without four key players.
Running back David Montgomery (groin), safety Jalen Pitre (shoulder), offensive tackle Blake Fisher (thumb) and safety Reed Blankenship (concussion/hand) will not play.
The Texans list wide receiver Tank Dell (knee) as questionable, but he is expected to play. His last game action came in 2024 when a gruesome knee injury knocked him out of the rest of that season and all of 2025.
Tight end Dalton Schultz (quad), linebacker Henry To’oTo’o (shoulder) and tight end Brevin Jordan (foot) returned to full participation in Friday’s practice and all three are good to go.
The Giants won’t have linebacker Tremaine Edmunds in the lineup against the Texans on Sunday and he reportedly will miss the rest of the season.
Edmunds was ruled out on Friday due to a shoulder injury. Dan Duggan of TheAthletic.com reports that the injury is expected to sideline Edmunds for the rest of the team’s games.
Edmunds signed with the Giants this offseason and had 50 tackles and two sacks in the first six games. Micah McFadden is expected to take over his role in the starting lineup.
Cornerback Greg Newsome (concussion) has also been ruled out and tight end Theo Johnson (neck) is expected to miss the game after being listed as doubtful. Cornerback Paulson Adebo (knee), right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (calf), safety Jevon Holland (concussion), offensive lineman Marcus Mbow (knee), and safety Tyler Nubin (neck) are listed as questionable.
Giants running back Cam Skattebo, after having a key overtime fumble in Week 5, played only six snaps and had no touches in Week 6. He apparently has been released from coach John Harbaugh’s doghouse.
Via Jordan Raanan of ESPN, Harbaugh said Friday that Skattebo had a “good week” of practice, and that he should return to the running back rotation on Sunday at Houston.
“It’s been good, you know; I think I got taught a lesson,” Skattebo said, via Raanan. “I don’t know if that’s from them or from myself, but I kind of had to step back and look at it and figure out why I was doing the things I was doing, what was happening. Came to practice, corrected those things, worked on them. Ready to go back out there and play ball. . . .
“I took care of the ball during practice, and whatever my role is on Sunday is going to be my role and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.”
Beyond Skattebo being frozen out of the game plan against the Saints, he and the rest of the team got a wakeup call regarding who’s in charge when running back Najee Harris was cut only two days after publicly questioning the approach to the run game.
“Nobody’s safe,” Skattebo said. “It’s as simple as that. I think when we go on the field and we perform, if we’re not performing, we understand there’s a possibility of not being here. If I don’t perform, I know there’s a possibility of me not being here. We came in this week. We continue to work. We know where we’re at. We know what we have. If we put that to display, we’re going to be just fine.”
For the season, Skattebo has 81 carries for 294 yards and one touchdown. He’s averaging 3.6 yards per carry.
Last week, three Giants running backs had carries in the 34-27 loss to New Orleans. Tyrone Tracy ran six times for 18 yards, Devin Singletary received four attempts for 14 yards, and Harris had two rushes for four yards. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy led the team in rushing with 26 yards on two attempts.
With McCarthy getting his first start less than four weeks arriving via trade, the Giants need to have a solid effort on the ground to make it easier for McCarthy to operate the passing game. Skattebo will get a chance to provide the punch the Giants were missing in Week 6.
The Giants almost pulled off a stunning comeback after putting quarterback J.J. McCarthy in their game against the Saints in the fourth quarter last Sunday, which is a big reason why he’ll be starting against the Texans this weekend.
While the offensive coaches prepare McCarthy for his first start as a Giant, defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson is focusing on making sure the team doesn’t find itself playing from behind. Next Gen Stats credited the Giants with 18 missed tackles against the Saints and Wilson said at a Thursday press conference that he doesn’t believe it was “characteristic” of the team’s defense.
Wilson said he specifically “wasn’t happy with our effort running to the ball” and explained how he dealt with it this week.
“You confront it. Just like we do, we confront everything,” Wilson said, via a transcript from the team. “When you’re in the meeting room, you show those plays. I look at guys that don’t run to the ball, and I call them traitors because they’re traitors to the defense. At the end of the day, when you have a traitor to the defense, you either have to make adjustments to get them off the field, you have to get somebody else on the field, or they have to correct their behaviors. Last week was one of those things where we did not on every play, run to the ball, and it was unacceptable. The guys know it, and this week when you see them out there, they will be flying around 100 miles per hour with their hair on fire.”
The Texans have put up 90 points over the last three weeks, so Wilson will need his words to find a willing audience if the Giants are going to avoid a third straight week without a victory.
The Texans had seven players out of practice on Wednesday. Three returned to practice Thursday.
Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (knee) and tight end Dalton Schultz (quad) returned to limited participation, and offensive tackle Trent Brown (wrist) was a full participant.
Safety Reed Blankenship (concussion/hand), offensive tackle Blake Fisher (thumb), running back David Montgomery (groin) and safety Jalen Pitre (shoulder) remained out a second consecutive day.
Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (knee) and defensive end Logan Hall (knee) were full participants on Thursday after being limited Wednesday. Linebacker Henry To’oTo’o (shoulder) was again limited.
Wide receiver Tank Dell (knee) was a full participant and is expected to play Sunday, his first game action since 2024.
The Texans added offensive guard Ed Ingram (back/hip) and tight end Brevin Jordan (foot) to their report Thursday. Ingram was a full participant, and Jordan was limited.
The Eagles have signed offensive lineman Evan Neal, according to multiple reports. He presumably will join the practice squad.
Neal practiced with the team Thursday.
The Raiders cut Neal from their practice squad earlier in the week.
The Giants released Neal out of the preseason, and the Raiders signed him soon after.
Neal was not active for any games with the Raiders, and he has not played in a game since 2024.
The Giants selected him seventh overall in the 2022 draft, and he began his career at right tackle. The Giants moved him to right guard, and he did not play a snap there last season.
He ended his Giants career with 29 games played, including 27 starts.
Texans wide receiver Tank Dell has not played a game since Dec. 21, 2024, when he tore multiple ligaments and dislocated his kneecap in a game against the Chiefs. The gruesome knee injury threatened his career.
“I’m blessed,” Dell said, via DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN. “I want to thank God for getting me back in this position. But I don’t think I’m overwhelmed. I’m anxious, of course, but I don’t think I’m overwhelmed. I’m anxious to get back out there and play some football.”
The Texans opened Dell’s practice window on Oct. 5, and he returns to game action on Sunday against the Giants.
“I know it’s a lot of questions, like, ‘How he gonna look when he gets tackled?’” Dell said. “I don’t care about none of that. I’m ready to get tackled. I’m gonna be joyful. Y’all gonna see the passion I have after I had that first catch.”
Dell, a third-round pick in 2023, will likely be on a snap count Sunday. That doesn’t matter to him or to the Texans.
“It’s just getting Tank back out there after missing two years of football,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “That’s the main thing. Him just going out playing ball. I don’t care how many reps he gets. But I’ll have my Tank Dell jersey on.”
Dell has 98 receptions for 1,376 yards and 10 touchdowns in his career.
J.J. McCarthy was drafted 10th overall in 2024 to be the quarterback for the Vikings, but his path to a long run as a starter in the NFL now goes through New Jersey.
McCarthy will make his first start for the Giants in Sunday’s game against the Texans and he could have an 11-game run to show the entire league what he’s capable of doing. McCarthy said on Wednesday that he sees the move to the first team as “a chance to prove yourself” and that he feels more prepared for the job than he was when he took over as the Vikings’ starter at the start of last season.
McCarthy said that he gained knowledge about “the nature of NFL football” in 10 starts between injuries for the Vikings and is confident he’ll be able to handle things better despite only being with the Giants for a few weeks.
“I believe just experience does wonders,” McCarthy said, via a transcript from the team. “Being able to be in that same situation where you might have made a mistake the last time, this time you’re just going to react better and make a more well-rounded response decision in that situation. Just being around great talent and great coaches, absolutely love everyone on the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball does a tremendous job of just giving us opportunities and always making sure we stay in the game and fight to the last seconds of each game.”
Jaxson Dart is still the long-term plan at quarterback for the Giants, but there will be a market for McCarthy if he shows the skills that made him a top pick two years ago and he now has to make the most of his chance to display them.
