Houston Texans’ most questionable draft pick?

The national media consensus was that the Houston Texans had a solid project. But a recent article by SCS challenged one of Houston’s nine selections.

General manager Nick Caserio returned in the second round to select Alabama wide receiver John Metchie III with the 44th overall pick.

John Metchie III

While on the surface this fills a need for the Texans, CBS questions the value for money in selecting such a high recently injured player.

Sounds like a cop, but these teams stuck to the board relatively well. Metchie was a bit of an outlier to me because he fights the ball a bit on the pitch. Combined with his injury history, his value was later Day 2 for me. Houston has now taken a chance on a few Day 2 wide receivers over the past few years with Nico Collins and Metchie. The Texans are doing their due diligence to give Davis Mills a chance to prove themselves this season.”

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His torn ACL is of course concerning, but using the term “injury history” given that this is the only documented major injury he has suffered seems a bit of a stretch – especially since the ACL tears in no way put an end to his career, that is to say Franck Goré.

The Taiwanese-born receiver had 2,058 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2020 and 2021, for an impressive average of 79.2 yards per game.

Metchie is the 11th Alabama wide receiver to be drafted since 2010. Some of his predecessors include Julio Jones, Amari Cooper, Calvin Ridley, Jerry Jeudy, DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle.