{"id":139899,"date":"2023-04-09T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2023-04-09T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=139899"},"modified":"2025-09-25T12:06:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:06:22","slug":"nathaniel-dell-2023-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/04\/09\/nathaniel-dell-2023-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathaniel Dell 2023 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Nathaniel &#8220;Tank&#8221; Dell NFL Draft Overview<br \/>\nPosition:\u00a0<\/strong>Wide Receiver<br \/>\n<strong>Height<\/strong>: 5&#8242;-8&#8221;<br \/>\n<strong>Weight<\/strong>: 165 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/tag\/houston-cougars\/\" target=\"_self\">Houston<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023-nfl-draft-profiles\/\" target=\"_self\"><em>More 2023 NFL Draft Profiles<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>2023 NFL Draft: Nathaniel Dell Scouting Report<\/h2>\n<p>After an injury-riddled freshman season at Alabama A&amp;M in 2018, the dynamic and diminutive wide receiver Nathaniel &#8220;Tank&#8221; Dell transferred to Independence Community College. During his single season at Independence, Dell showed great versatility and production as both a receiver and kick returner. Dell finished the 2019 season with 52 catches for 766 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>Dell once again transferred in 2020, this time to the University of Houston, where he found immediate success. In his first season with the Cougars, he led the team in both catches (29) and receiving yards (428). Dell made a significant leap the next season, and earned first-team All-American Athletic Conference honors for his excellence. He paced the\u00a0team in receptions (90), receiving yards (1,329), and receiving touchdowns (12).<\/p>\n<p>Dell&#8217;s production and utilization increased even further last season, as he was the national leading receiver in both receiving yards (13,98) and receiving touchdowns (17). After Dell decided to skip his senior season to enter the 2023 NFL Draft, he projects to be a versatile and explosive receiving weapon at the next level.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Exceptional burst and explosiveness \u2013 big play ability;<\/li>\n<li>Short-area quickness;<\/li>\n<li>Versatile offensive threat; has shown ability to play in slot, on the outside, and in the backfield;<\/li>\n<li>Elite change of direction ability, fluidity coming out of his routes;<\/li>\n<li>Extremely productive player \u2013 naturally instinctive playmaker;<\/li>\n<li>Really good ball-tracking skills and balanced body control.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Limited size &#8211; Dell&#8217;s small frame leads to concerns about long-term health and durability;<\/li>\n<li>Struggled more against press coverage;<\/li>\n<li>Mostly ran out of the slot in college \u2013 questions about whether he can succeed as the outside receiver;<\/li>\n<li>Ran a limited route tree at Houston, could be restricted to specialist role in NFL;<\/li>\n<li>Has a small catch radius \u2013 shorter arms and overall wingspan;<\/li>\n<li>Questions about his speed after he ran an underwhelming 4.49 40 yard dash at combine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/A\/AustTa00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tavon Austin<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Fits for Tank Dell: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/texans\/\" target=\"_self\">Houston\u00a0Texans<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/cowboys\/\" target=\"_self\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/vikings\/\" target=\"_self\">Minnesota Vikings,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bills\/\" target=\"_self\">Buffalo Bills,<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/buccaneers\/\" target=\"_self\">Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Projection: <\/strong>Round 3-4<\/p>\n<h3>Bottom Line on Nathaniel Dell<\/h3>\n<p>In spite of the excellent collegiate production and dynamic playmaking abilities Dell showed at Houston, there are serious questions about how his game will translate to the next level. At his short height and small frame, Dell could especially have difficulty staying healthy while adapting to the increased physicality he will see in the NFL.<\/p>\n<p>However, Dell is absolutely electric with the ball in his hands, and has shown the ability to produce in a wide variety of offensive positions and formations. With his fluid route-running and receiving skills, Dell has the talent to be a real impactful player in the NFL, whether that be as a receiver or as a playmaker in the return game.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Petre Thomas &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a collegiate journey that sent him to multiple programs, wide receiver Nathaniel &#8216;Tank&#8217; Dell has declared for the 2023 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4418,"featured_media":140009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647,33760],"tags":[9820,2030],"class_list":["post-139899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-profiles","tag-nathaniel-dell","tag-nfl-draft-profiles"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248311,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139899\/revisions\/248311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}