When the Houston Texans hit the football field for Phase 2 of their offseason program last week, wide receiver John Metchie III joined his teammates on the turf.

A second-round draft choice from Alabama one year ago, Metchie missed his rookie season after being diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia in July.

“He’s making progress,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio said on Saturday. “He’s in a good spot. Hadn’t been any setbacks. But still a long road ahead of us, and he hadn’t played a lot of football, but we’re all certainly optimistic about where he’s headed.”

According to the National Institutes of Health’s Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, acute promyelocytic leukemia occurs when “there are too many immature blood-forming cells (promyelocytes) in the blood and bone marrow. This buildup of promyelocytes leads to a shortage of normal white and red blood cells and platelets in the body. The signs and symptoms of APL include an increased risk both to bleed and form blood clots. Individuals may also experience excessive tiredness, pain in affected areas, loss of appetite and weight loss.”

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society calls APL “the most curable form of adult leukemia” with cure rates of 90 percent at centers specializing in treatment of the disease.

Working under new coach and former Alabama All-American linebacker DeMeco Ryans, the Texans reached the second stage of their three-part offseason program last week.

Under NFL rules, teams can conduct three weeks of Phase 2 workouts. The work must be confined to individual and group drills and instructions without contact or offense-versus-defense competition.

“He was a full participant last week when we got on the field for sort of Phase 2,” Caserio said. “Still, he hasn’t played football in a long time, so kind of going from Phase 2 and then really Phase 3, when we actually start practicing football and some of the football movements that are involved – space, defense — not that we’re going to have contact.

“Nobody’s worked harder over the last however many months to get himself to this point. I wouldn’t say anybody is surprised that he’s arrived at this point. I’d say his will to work, his effort, his mental and physical toughness – and the work of the sports-performance staff — has been incredible. There’s a lot of people that deserve a lot of credit that have helped him to get to this point, and you have to start with John.”

Phase 3 covers four weeks of the offseason program during which teams can hold 10 days of organized team activity (or OTAs) that may include 11-on-11 drills without contact. Teams also can hold a three-day mandatory minicamp during Phase Three.

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Metchie had 151 receptions for 2,058 yards and 14 touchdowns in his final two seasons at Alabama as the Crimson Tide reached the CFP national title game for the 2020 and 2021 campaigns.

Metchie caught eight passes for 81 yards in Alabama’s 52-24 victory over Ohio State in the championship game on Jan. 11, 2021. But he missed the Tide’s 33-18 loss to Georgia on Jan. 10, 2022, after he sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Alabama’s 41-24 victory over the Bulldogs five weeks before in the SEC Championship Game.

Even though Houston knew the knee injury would delay the start of Metchie’s pro career, the Texans traded the 68th, 108th and 124th selections in the 2022 NFL Draft to move up to the 44th pick to take the wide receiver on April 29, 2022.

Houston hopes to add Metchie to a depth chart missing last season’s top two wide receivers. The Texans traded Brandin Cooks to the Dallas Cowboys last month. Cooks had 57 receptions for 699 yards and three touchdowns in 2022. Chris Moore caught 48 passes for 548 yards and two touchdowns last season, but he remains an unrestricted free agent.

Houston’s leading returning receiver is former Clay-Chalkville standout Nico Collins. Injuries caused Collins to miss seven games in 2022. In the other 10, he had 37 receptions for 481 yards and two touchdowns.

The Texans signed wide receivers Noah Brown and Robert Woods in free agency. A 1,000-yard receiver for the Los Angeles Rams in 2018 and 2019, Woods had 53 receptions for 527 yards and two touchdowns for the Tennessee Titans in 2022. Brown is coming off his best pro season after catching 43 passes for 555 yards and three touchdowns for the Cowboys.

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Last week, Houston drafted two wide receivers – Houston’s Tank Dell, who began his college career at Alabama A&M, in the third round and Iowa State’s Xavier Hutchinson in the sixth round.

The Texans also got a new quarterback to throw the football to those receivers, using the second choice in the draft to add Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.