The least talked about piece of the blockbuster New York Jets–Indianapolis Colts trade has been wide receiver Adonai Mitchell.
After the trade was completed, NFL Insider Connor Hughes of SNY spoke with an anonymous NFL general manager.
“I was warned by a general manager of an NFL team. So this is not some assistant, this [or] low-level that, this is a general manager of an NFL team that told me this. A guy who is calling all of the shots. When the Jets got AD Mitchell, he texted me. I said Wow Sauce Gardner deal is crazy: two first-round picks plus a guy who was drafted in the second round a year ago. He said, ‘Connor, I have done a lot of homework on him. Teams don’t trade second-round picks for nothing that were drafted a year ago. Not when they’re under team control, not when they have talent, he goes, ‘if they’re giving up on him already, there is probably a reason for that,’” Hughes revealed on “Jets Mailbag.”
That General Manager Doesn’t Have All the Facts
Mitchell, 23, entered the league as the No. 52 overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NFL draft. He hasn’t lived up to his draft status in his career yet.
However, he wasn’t just thrown into the deal as a last-minute afterthought.
“Darren Mougey, who replaced [Joe] Douglas, insisted the Colts include Mitchell to get a blockbuster trade that sent Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis (for two first-round picks) across the finish line, according to a Jets team source. Mitchell wouldn’t be wearing a No. 15 Jets uniform, and Gardner No. 1 for the Colts, if the wide receiver weren’t part of the deal,” Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic revealed.
“I don’t think the Colts wanted to trade AD Mitchell by any means. We talked to Reggie Wayne, [Indy’s] wide receivers coach, and he definitely did not want to lose AD Mitchell. But I think the Colts have liked Sauce Gardner since he came into the league and saw an opportunity to add him. If the whole thing was going to hinge on whether or not they added AD Mitchell into it, well, we have a guy who is maybe getting five snaps a game versus someone who could maybe get us to a Super Bowl. You just kind of had to do it,” Jake Arthur, the co-host of the “Locked on Colts Podcast,” told me on “Boy Green Daily.”
Mitchell Will Get His Chance to Prove the Doubters Wrong
Since Week 5, Mitchell has appeared in “24 combined snaps” over that four-game stretch, per Rosenblatt.
That won’t be the case with the Jets.
Garrett Wilson returns to the lineup in Week 10 against the Cleveland Browns. Even still, there will be plenty of reps to go around.
The Jets are 1-7. They are in full evaluation mode. Over the final nine games of the season, the Jets will get a strong look at a slew of players, highlighted by Mitchell.
“What didn’t I like about him?” Jets wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson said via Rosenblatt. “Big guy, runs a 4.3, jumps out of the gym, catches the ball, makes contested catches, tough with the ball in his hands. I’m happy to have him.”
Across his season and a half in the pros, he has appeared in 25 games and has started in eight of those contests. Mitchell has collected 71 targets with 32 catches for 464 yards. He has averaged 14.5 yards per reception at the NFL level.
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