DeMeco Ryans says John Metchie's hamstring is 'good to go' for training camp

Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said wide receiver John Metchie will be ready for the start of training camp. Metchie is currently dealing with a strained hamstring.

‘He will be good to go for training camp,” Ryans said, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston.

Metchie missed all of the 2022 season with acute promyelocytic leukemia, which will make this year his rookie season. It has been a difficult health journey for Metchie of late as he also tore his ACL in the 2021 SEC Championship Game.

#Texans DeMeco Ryans on John Metchie III who has a strained hamstring: 'He will be good to go for training camp'

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) June 14, 2023

Metchie played three seasons of college at Alabama, starring for the team as a sophomore and a junior. In 2020, Metchie had 55 catches for 916 yards and six touchdowns. He improved those numbers to 96 catches for 1,142 yards and eight touchdowns the following year before tearing his ACL.

A native of Canada, Metchie won the Jon Cornish Trophy as the top Canadian player in college football in both 2020 and 2021.

“When you talk about a guy like John Metchie, just hearing his story and meeting him in person, it marries up,” Ryans said in May. “Outstanding young man off the field. Great energy. Always around. Every time I seen him in the building, huge smile on his face.

“No matter what adversity he’s faced, he’s attacking it with a smile, with the right attitude. It just solidifies the type of person that he is and the type of people and the type of players that we want to add to our team, it’s guys with that type of attitude.”

If Metchie is available for the start of the season, which quarterback will be throwing to him remains to be seen. CJ Stroud is the future of the franchise but last year’s starter Davis Mills and veteran signal-caller Case Keenum are all on the roster.

ESPN’s Dan Graziano said it feels like to him Stroud could earn the job to start the season. But he has to earn it.

“Let’s go to Houston where rookie CJ Stroud was getting first team reps with the first team offense in minicamp yesterday,” Dan Graziano said on Get Up. “Head coach DeMeco Ryans told reports to not read too much into it. It’s Stroud’s week to get it. They’ve been rotating between him and Davis Mills. I think this will be something to watch in training camp.

“My sense of it is if Stroud can handle it, he’ll probably be the Week 1 starter. But they want to see more from him in terms of his ability to handle the offense, command things, process things, et cetera.”