Third-year wideout Adonai Mitchell has been a ticking time bomb since he entered the league as a second-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2024.
Mitchell boasts elite top-end speed and has translated it to top-notch separation in the NFL. Across the last two seasons, Mitchell has the seventh-best “open score” (80) among wide receivers, per ESPN analytics, which is a metric that tracks receivers’ ability to create separation.
Upon joining the Jets as part of a mid-season trade in 2025, Mitchell continued to create vertical separation on a consistent basis, something he did in Indianapolis as well. However, just like with the Colts, most of those excellent routes were not converted to a reception, whether it be due to poor accuracy or the ball not even coming his way.
Mitchell owns some blame, too. His career drop rate of 15.2% is poor, as is his 33.3% contested-catch rate. He must improve his hands.
Still, Mitchell’s frequency at separating for potential deep touchdowns has been so elite that he would probably still be one of the league’s better deep threats if he had received merely league-average conversion on the opportunities he’s created, even with the catching woes.
When Geno Smith, an accomplished deep passer, arrived to the Jets in March, there was hope that Mitchell might finally be on the verge of a season in which he shows the world precisely what he’s capable of. What we’ve witnessed between the pairing since training camp has supported the idea that Mitchell could be in for a huge year.
In practice, Mitchell was constantly targeted by Smith on downfield throws. When Smith saw Mitchell with one-on-one coverage against a MOFC (middle of field closed) look, he took the shot.
This translated to a tiny sample in the preseason. On just one drive with Smith, Mitchell was targeted twice, catching both passes for 13 yards and a pair of first downs.
As Week 1 approaches, the concept of an Adonai Mitchell breakout is among the optimistic Jets takes that feels likelier now than it did when training camp began.
