Entering his first full season with the New York Jets, wide receiver Adonai Mitchell is looking to turn his potential into production.
His tools are obvious; he’s an elite separator with legitimate upside as a boundary receiver. There is a reason the Texas product was a second-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
After being acquired at the 2025 trade deadline, Mitchell dealt with a carousel of quarterbacks in New York, catching passes from three different QBs: Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor, Brady Cook—all in an eight-game stretch.
Now, he is looking to build a connection with the Jets’ 2026 quarterback, Geno Smith, who is expected to be a significant upgrade over those three names.
After calling Garrett Wilson a “Bad MF”, Mitchell labeled Smith a “baller”.
“He [Smith] is a baller, he is a natural leader, he is the alpha in the room,” Mitchell said of Smith following the Jets’ OTAs on Tuesday. “He takes the initiative, and he communicates extremely well. I’m excited [to play with him].”
As we recently detailed, Smith, due to his deep-ball prowess, is the perfect quarterback to help unlock Mitchell’s full potential—if he can return to the level of play he showcased with the Seattle Seahawks from 2022-24, which is certainly plausible for several reasons.
Over the past two seasons, Mitchell has an ESPN Analytics open score of 80, showcasing his elite separation ability. He ranked seventh among wide receivers in that category, behind only Chris Olave (81), Zay Flowers (82), Stefon Diggs (84), A.J. Brown (84), Tyreek Hill (84), and Malik Nabers (90).
As evidenced by that statistic, Mitchell has been getting open throughout his NFL career, but he just hasn’t had the QB who can consistently hit him downfield. Last season with the Jets, there were multiple instances in which QBs simply overthrew him when he was wide open downfield.
Now, entering his third NFL season, Mitchell is hoping that Smith is the quarterback he finally clicks with.
