Source: Eagles acquire wide receiver John Metchie in trade with Texans
The Eagles reportedly sent tight end Harrison Bryant to Houston, while the teams also swapped Day 3 picks in the deal.
The Eagles added a receiver to training camp just nine days before roster cut down day.
A league source confirmed the Eagles acquired John Metchie III from Houston. According to ESPN, the Eagles sent the Texans tight end Harrison Bryant and a fifth-round pick while Houston paired Metchie with a sixth-rounder. The draft picks are the selections the teams swapped in March when the Eagles traded C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Texans for offensive lineman Kenyon Green.
Metchie, a second-round pick out of Alabama in 2022, caught 24 passes for 254 yards on 37 targets in 13 regular-season games with Houston last season, his second in the NFL, including his lone career touchdown. He added another six catches and 63 yards in two playoff games.
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The 25-year-old missed his rookie season in 2022 while recovering from Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia. Metchie, who is 6 feet and 195 pounds, had 96 catches for 1,142 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior at Alabama in 2021 before leaving for the draft.
Metchie’s addition, which reunites him with college teammate DeVonta Smith, comes as an active competition is already ongoing for roster spots at the bottom of the depth chart at wide receiver. The Eagles have A.J. Brown, Smith, and Jahan Dotson at the top of the position, but it’s unclear so far what the pecking order is behind them.
Undrafted free agent Darius Cooper has been one of the surprises of camp, second-year receiver Johnny Wilson has shown improvements, and Ainias Smith has a touchdown catch in each of the first two preseason games. Terrace Marshall, signed to a one-year deal in free agency, has not stood out after returning from a knee injury. Metchie’s addition creates a logjam of sorts.
Bryant, meanwhile, played just five snaps in Saturday’s preseason loss to Cleveland. Kylen Granson, the favorite for the TE3 job, played 18 snaps, and Nick Muse played 12.
The Eagles return to practice at the NovaCare Complex on Monday for the final three practices of training camp. They have a closed walkthrough Thursday before their preseason finale Friday night vs. the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
Jeffrey Lurie has owned the Philadelphia Eagles, which he purchased in 1994, longer than his son, Julian, has been alive. But in recent years, the younger Lurie, heir to the franchise and now 31, has assumed a more pervasive and influential role in the organization. While the Eagles have made no secret about Julian’s increased involvement with the team, specifics about his role have been scant. In recent months, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane spoke to nearly two dozen sources on and off the record to gain a better understanding of not just who Julian Lurie is and what he does, but - most important of all - whether he’ll be ready to assume the reins as Eagles Chairman and CEO, whenever the time comes. Jeff shares the biggest takeaways from his reporting with Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski in this companion episode to Jeff’s feature article about the Eagles' succession plan. Listen here.
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