Jaylin Noel

I loved Jaylin Noel as a prospect, and I'm willing to take a last-round flier on him again in 2026. I will acknowledge that if Tank Dell does come roaring back from his injuries this year, it's a death knell for Noel's fantasy value in 2026. In the four games last year that Noel played at least 33% of the snaps, he had a 25% target-per-route run rate, 2.46 yards per route run, and 0.132 first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). Yes, that is an insanely small sample of 76 routes, but it does show that Noel's talent is real. If he can seize a full-time role in 2026, the sky is the limit, but he has an uphill climb to get there.

Jaylin Noel barely made an impact statistically as a rookie, but Houston always viewed him as more of a long-term option behind its veteran receivers. With Christian Kirk now gone, Noel has a realistic path to a much larger offensive role after flashing whenever he received extended playing time in 2025. He was Pro Football Focus' (PFF) seventh-highest graded returner on 72 combined kick/punt returns in 2025. He flashed on multiple occasions as a receiver in Year 1. In the games where Noel ran at least 17 routes, he averaged almost four receptions per game. However, Tank Dell's return creates some overlap, as does Noel's own injury he is working through at the start of training camp.