Adonai Mitchell was in the Indianapolis Colts’ film room preparing for their Week 10 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons when he was called into the coach’s office. He had just been traded to the New York Jets in the deal headlined by star cornerback Sauce Gardner departing MetLife Stadium for the AFC South.
“When I was informed, I was watching film with the quarterbacks preparing for Atlanta,” Mitchell said. “I got called in, and I got told, and I was just surprised. After the surprise, the feeling went away, and I was just excited. Excited for a new chapter, excited for a new beginning, and to put everything in the past.”
A second-round pick out of Texas last year, he was an afterthought in the Colts’ offense. He caught 23 passes in his rookie season and was practically phased out upon the arrival of the resurgent ex-Giants quarterback, Daniel Jones. Mitchell was targeted just 16 times in his first eight games, catching nine passes for 152 yards.
But a retooling Jets team obviously saw something in the 24-year-old and secured him in the Gardner trade to offer another potential weapon in an offense that ultimately lost star receiver Garrett Wilson to injury just two days later.
What a pick-up he’s been, and it all came to light in Sunday’s win against that very same Falcons team that he was prepping for in Indianapolis just before he was shipped out of town.
Mitchell caught eight passes in New York’s 27-24 victory — just one shy of his total receptions with the Colts during the first half of the season — for 102 yards and his first career touchdown, which was a 52-yard bomb from quarterback Tyrod Taylor. With nine minutes left in the third quarter, the young receiver blew past Falcons defensive back Mike Hughes, who then fell at the 10-yard line, leaving Mitchell alone to secure the catch while falling into the end zone on his back side to tie the game at 14 apiece.
“Life comes full circle,” Mitchell said. “To get my first one against Atlanta, I’m happy to be a Jet, man.”
Deep threat aside, he was surgical on the sidelines. Late in the first quarter, he hauled in a seven-yard reception on the Jets’ 11-yard line for a 7-yard gain while simultaneously getting blown up by Hughes. He then snuck through the Atlanta secondary and toe-tapped an 11-yard completion on a 3rd-&-7.
Following his touchdown, there was a seven-yard connection with little room down the left sideline on a 2nd-&-6 to keep the Jets moving with four minutes left in the third to get the Jets in field goal range, which eventual hero Nick Folk missed to keep the game tied.
On their game-winning drive with 27 seconds left in the fourth, his 10-yard sliding catch at the left sideline was just enough to get Folk into range for his 56-yard game-winner.
“AD is a very special talent,” Taylor said. “Watching his routes, watching how he practices every day, it means a lot to him. Put the ball near him, and he’s going to catch it.”
His and John Metchie’s emergence has suddenly offered the Jets some hope of a deeper pass-catching unit behind Wilson in the future. Of course, there is the small task of finding a franchise quarterback. But this is at least a start for head coach Aaron Glenn, whose team has won three of its last five games after starting out 0-7.
“We want to continue to get him the ball as much as we can,” Glenn said. “I look forward to seeing him progress as the season goes on and coming back next year and being a big part of what we’re doing.”
