HOUSTON TEXANS SELECT CANADA’S JOHN METCHIE III IN ROUND 2

John Metchie III is a Houston Texan.

The Texans traded up with the Cleveland Browns to select the Alabama star receiver in the second round, No. 44 overall, of the 2022 NFL draft Friday night. Houston GM Nick Caserio jumped ahead of the Baltimore Ravens for the chance to take Metchie.

Metchie was the first Canadian selected. He was the third receiver taken in the second round and ninth to that point in the draft after six were drafted in the opening round Thursday night.

The receiver from Brampton, Ont., had been mentioned as a potential first-round pick before suffering a season-ending knee injury in Alabama’s 41-24 SEC title win over Georgia on Dec. 4. Daniel Jeremiah, the NFL Network’s draft guru, rated Metchie as his No. 73 draft prospect and had projected the former Crimson Tide star as a third-round selection.

Metchie joins a Texans team that struggled last year with a 4-13 record. Houston fired first-year head coach David Culley and promoted defensive co-ordinator Lovie Smith to the head job.

Metchie won’t be the lone Canadian on the Texans’ roster. Tight end Antony Auclair, a six-foot-six, 256-pound native of Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Que., is entering his second campaign in Houston after spending the first four NFL years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, securing a Super Bowl ring in the 2021 season.

Metchie had 155 receptions for 2,081 yards and 14 touchdowns in 39 games at Alabama and helped the Tide capture an NCAA title in 2020. Earlier this month, Metchie was named the top prospect for the ’22 CFL draft Tuesday but now will be a futures selection by any Canadian franchise selecting him.

Metchie also received the Jon Cornish Trophy as Canada’s top NCAA player for a second straight year, joining B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke as the only two-time winners.

Metchie’s path to the NFL has certainly been a long and twisting one.

He was born in Taiwan, moved to Ghana at a young age and grew up in Brampton. He then moved to Hagerstown, Md., to attend St. James prep school and spent a post-graduate year at the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J. before committing to the University of Alabama.

(Canadian Press)