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John Metchie is a former top-300 overall recruit from 2019. He caught just four passes as a true freshman for an Alabama offense that included four first-round receivers.
When Jaylen Waddle broke his ankle in 2020, Metchie stepped in and immediately produced at an elite level for Alabama’s high-powered offense as the vertical component from a schematic sense, where he was often responsible for opening up patterns underneath.
In 13 games, he caught 55 passes for 916 yards and six touchdowns. As a junior, he nearly cracked 100 touches for 1150 yards and eight TDs, making the second-team All-SEC behind his teammate Jameson Williams Arkansas’ Treylon Burks.
John Metchie's strengths
This young man is a patient route-runner, stutter-stepping off the line and then turning on the jets to create separation, where he can lull defenders to sleep, and then it is very sudden.
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Metchie has a way of eliminating leverage by defenders, getting square, and creating an angle for himself to get by either way. He runs some of the best hitch and curl routes you will ever see from a college prospect because he makes it look so much like a fade by showing the take-off down the sideline and then violently snapping it off religiously, working back towards the ball.
Metchie understands how to step on the toes of defensive backs and force them to commit their hips, especially on double-breakers. He can be highly deceptive with his body language, almost inviting defenders to drive on that initial route and regret doing so soon after, along with some head-fakes that almost make my neck hurt. Metchie’s expertise in that area is backed up by a stat, where he was contested on only eight of his 50 targets versus man-coverage (16%).
While Jameson Williams became more of the designated deep threat for the Crimson Tide this past season, Metchie has a high-4.3/low-4.4-type speed to run away from defenders on crossers and vertical routes. He tracks the ball extremely well down the field, but he does plenty of damage between the numbers.
With Alabama putting him in the slot more this past season (30.5% of snaps), just coming off the ball with vertical intention and then bending off that outside foot without chopping his feet resulted in a bunch of easy yardage on slants and other routes breaking towards the middle of the field. Something that stands out to me when approaching crowded areas especially, but altogether, is how quickly Metchie brings the ball into his body to avoid any swiping arms affecting him.
For a guy flirting with the six-foot and 190-pound mark, Metchie puts in good work as a blocker and shows much better physicality as a blocker than you’d anticipate, taking pride in that part of his game. With increased playing time in the slot, he was responsible for safeties on run plays, and he did not back down from that challenge.
Metchie also had one of the all-time great chase-down tackles and fumbles forced by a receiver I can remember against Florida in 2020. And while Jameson Williams turned himself into the biggest play-maker for the Tide in 2021, Metchie was relied upon in a lot of crucial situations, finding a way to get open on third downs, but also the end of the Iron Bowl against Auburn, when they couldn’t do anything offensively until late. He managed to force 20 missed tackles last year.
John Metchie's weaknesses
On the flipside, Metchie needs to do a slightly better job of positioning his hands to where he can attack the ball in the air and not allow it to get into his body at times. At 5’11” with 30 ½-inch arms, his catch radius is severely limited, and you see some passes where he’s sat down in a window, and you feel like he should easily be able to get it, but it goes off his finger-tips.
That, along with taking eyes off the ball a little early last season, led to eight drops on the year. And while he may be faster than people act like he is, he doesn’t have that final gear you see from number one on that offense to pull away from defenders consistently. Metchie also tore his ACL in the SEC Championship game in December. So at best, he’ll be ready to go once the preseason starts.
John Metchie's Draft Projection
Considering Metchie was a top-three or so receiver prospect coming into the ’21 season, you can say he’s somewhat fallen from grace. He’ll go at least a round later than the other Alabama receiver, looking at consensus boards.
However, this is a super-crafty player who has produced inside and out in the toughest conference in college football. Due to the manner of his usage last season, people underrate his speed. If that’s what ends up happening, teams will gladly grab him later on day two if his draft stock falls.
Final grade: Second round
For more draft prospect breakdowns, positional rankings, and much more, head over to my page halilsrealfootballtalk.com and follow me on social media!
