The Houston Texans have compiled a deep wide receiver room, one that could arguably be the best in the entire NFL. With Stefon Diggs’ arrival, plus the breakout season of Nico Collins and the potential of Tank Dell, the Texans truly have a formidable hydra at the position. That doesn’t even factor in Noah Brown, Robert Woods, or Xavier Hutchinson. This is a deep room, one that’s probably too deep for anyone to break through in 2024. Making it nearly impossible for a guy like John Metchie III to find reps with the Texans.

He’s someone who had enormous upside coming out of college, being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and going 44th overall. He was the Texans’ fourth pick that season and the one that they hoped would help Collins blossom into a star player. Unfortunately, Metchie didn’t get a chance to play in 2022, as he ended up missing the entire season due to a life-threatening illness.

Thankfully, Metchie was able to recover and return to the field, but when he did, he found a team with a lot more talent at the position than he originally was drafted to.

Now, Metchie is, at best, sixth on a depth chart, and already into his third year of a four-year rookie contract. He’s yet to show anything on the field, and with so much talent ahead of him, it may be hard for him to do just that. The good news for Metchie is he has a big supporter in now second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud, who expressed his support for Metchie, telling the media;

“Metchie is looking amazing. Everything that he will put on this field will be no surprise, but I think everybody in this room knows how special he can be. And he’ll put that on the field.”

Having Stoud give you a massive endorsement like that is huge, but that doesn’t help him with his depth chart placement. He has a lot of guys he needs to leapfrog over to get any amount of serious reps, the sad thing is that Woods and Brown, the two most likely candidates for him to bypass, are both more proven deep threats (Brown) and better run blockers (Woods) than Metchie is right now. Or should we say was last year?

It’s very possible that Metchie goes hard in camp, earns a spot on the roster, and forces the Texans to move on from either Woods or Brown, if not both. Sadly, that’s the only way he gets any real action this season, is if he proves to be more valuable than two very useful talents.