Texans' John Metchie III cleared for training camp after 2022 leukemia diagnosis
Houston Texans wide receiver John Metchie III is one milestone closer to making his NFL debut after missing his entire rookie season because of leukemia.
“He’s cleared to participate in our training camp. It figures there will be some players where we kind of manage them during the course of practice,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio told reporters Monday. “But John’s ready to go. I know he had a little bit of a setback there in the spring, but he’s cleared. He’s ready to practice, so we’re going to take it one day at a time. I’m sure he’s anxious and excited just to be back on the field.”
Selected by the Texans in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, Metchie was a 4-star recruit out of Alabama. He was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia after the draft. He said he expected to make a full recovery.
After the team said he was making "amazing" progress in January, the 23-year-old was a full participant in Houston's offseason program in April.
At the start of OTAs in June, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans told reporters that Metchie was “on the right path” to participating with the rest of his team by training camp. He was a full participant in the team’s offseason workout program until a hamstring injury sidelined him during the non-contact OTA period.
Now healthy, Metchie's return to training with his team is another iteration of his persistence in the face of adversity.
John Metchie is cleared for Training Camp 🥷 pic.twitter.com/jnkAI10v2X
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) July 26, 2023
After the draft, Caserio said, "Nobody's worked harder" than Metchie to get to this point. His journey began in Taiwan, before moving to Ghana at just a year old. He grew up near Toronto and eventually attended an American boarding school in Maryland at 14. He wasn't able to play football during his freshman year of high school after doctors discovered he had an enlarged heart that was causing murmurs in 2014.
Then, Metchie's three-year career at Alabama ended when he tore his ACL in the SEC championship game on Dec. 4, 2021, an injury that was expected to hamper him in his rookie NFL season.
Metchie is now in position to develop with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud and stand out in a group of receivers that also includes Nico Collins, Robert Woods, Noah Brown and Tank Dell.
