The Texans traded up in the second round of the draft in order to take wide receiver John Metchie III with the 44th overall pick despite the fact that it is not clear exactly when Metchie will be able to help them on the field.
Metchie tore his ACL while playing for Alabama in the SEC Championship Game last year, so he will continue to be in rehab mode for a while. Once he is well enough to play, he’s ticketed for the slot receiver role and head coach Lovie Smith said that the team took him because he offers the offense ability that they don’t otherwise have on hand.
“You know, we say we’re a tough football team,” Smith said, via Cole Thompson of SI.com. “There’s some positions that will tell if you’re really tough or not . . . [Metchie] is a small guy, likely only to play the slot, but to play with an injury the way he did and how he’s attacked coming back . . . He’s going to give us something eventually that we don’t have in our program now.”
Metchie caught 96 passes for 1,142 yards and eight touchdowns before getting hurt last season and the Texans clearly believe that his injury won’t stop him from producing at a similar level as a pro.