HOUSTON — Houston Texans receiver Tank Dell addressed the media for the first time since he was injured in a shooting earlier this year in Florida.
Dell was an innocent bystander in a shooting at a restaurant in Florida on April 28. It was a shooting that injured nine other people. Dell’s injury was said to be minor and the team said he’d make a full recovery.
The team is holding OTAs in preparation for the upcoming 2024-25 season. The second-year receiver and former Houston Cougars standout spoke after practice.
"I don't want to keep reliving the experience. It definitely changed my perspective of things, like, you know, hanging around, like, just not even hanging around, but just being around the right group of guys and stuff like that, or being in the right situations," he said of the incident Tuesday following practice. "You know, just wrong place, wrong time."
Dell said he was glad to be back with his teammates, especially quarterback C.J. Stroud.
"We've been with each other in LA, here in Houston, everywhere. So that's been great. You know, that brotherhood," Dell said.
Dell described the shooting in Florida as a traumatic experience for him and his family.
"Yeah, it's definitely scary, not only for myself but for my family, because I don't want to put myself in that type of position and especially like my family, like, I got a little brother, my mom," he said. "I know how they were feeling at that time and it's just a blessing that I'm safe."
For the first time, Dell described what it was like following the shooting.
"So when it first happened, you know, when I was in the hospital, that's the only thing I was asking. Like, 'Am I going to be all right to play football?' Like, that was my main thing," he said.
He explained that the doctors told him his wound was through and through and that he would be OK.
Watch his full press conference below: