The Indianapolis Colts had to do something. Not at the 2025 trade deadline, necessarily, but with wide receiver Adonai Mitchell. To be clear, Mitchell wasn't a bad person, but he seemed unlikely to ever rise up the receiver depth chart in a way a former second-round pick should.
He has good size and speed, but couldn't consistently get separation from defenders. His play was a mystery in Indy, but he was also just somehow a bad fit in a great Colts offense, when everyone else seemed to excel this season.
Many times, simply changing teams will help an underperforming player who has raw talent. Going from Indy to the New York Jets, which Mitchell did as part of the trade that saw the Colts acquire cornerback Sauce Gardner, wouldn't seemingly help the struggling receiver, but maybe the move will, as he won't be buried on the depth chart anymore.
Jets expert delivers brutal three-word phrase to describe Adonai Mitchell's time with the Indianapolis Colts
To be sure, the Jets were a terrible team before the trade deadline, and are even worse now. Perhaps, though, Adonai Mitchell will get enough reps where he begins to produce consistently. He could even become a WR2 in the Jets system.
A key question is why AD Mitchell did not succeed in Indianapolis, though. Was it poor route-running skills, or did he not apply himself enough to learn the offense? A Jets expert has a different view and summed up his thoughts with a three-word phrase.
Mike Luciano of FanSided's The Jet Press wrote, "In a Jets wide receiver room that has next to nothing guaranteed beyond the fact that Garrett Wilson will enter the season as the No. 1 target in the room, the Jets think that their particular blend of schematic quirks and coaching can help Mitchell improve in areas where Indy let him down."
The "let him down" part is telling. Maybe Luciano is correct and Indianapolis simply didn't do enough to help Mitchell be the wide receiver he could be. The reason this doesn't seem to be the case is that every other Indy receiver has done well in 2025.
It wasn't coaching that caused Adonai Mitchell to drop the ball as he was entering the end zone in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams. Was it Colts coaching that caused him to hold a defender as Jonathan Taylor was running for a touchdown late in the same game? No. Mitchell should have learned how to block in high school.
Ultimately, however, there are no bad feelings toward Mitchell. He turned out to be a draft bust for the Indianapolis Colts, but not a bad human being. Hopefully, he finds himself in New York.