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Is Mitchell the steal of the draft, or is there a real problem?
On Thursday night of the 2024 NFL Draft, it felt like we were destined to hear Adonai Mitchell’s name get called. The Texas wide receiver was the No. 21 player on our big board, was highly regarded as a tier-two receiver after Marvin Harrison Jr, Malik Nabers, and Rome Odunze.
Yet, he didn’t end up being picked until No. 51 by the Indianapolis Colts.
It was a head-scratching move to fans at home, but totally expected by several teams around the league. On Friday night an NFC scout said of Mitchell “loved the film, but the interview was bad.” Another front-office employee in the AFC East simply said “character concerns,” but wouldn’t elaborate further.
One pre-draft report cited that Mitchell, a Type 1 diabetic, didn’t manage his condition well and that could be the cause of friction.
“When his blood sugar’s off, he’s rude, he’s abrasive, he doesn’t pay attention in meetings. It’s why you get really, really shitty character reports coming out of Georgia and Texas. But when his stuff is normal, and they get him normal by lunch time, he’s out at practice high energy, best practice player, loves football.”
It went on to say that Mitchell’s disregard for managing his blood sugar was likely a trait of being immature. It’s unclear whether or not this factored into the pre-draft process, but Ian Rapoport did point out on NFL Network that he heard from several teams that Mitchell came off as being disinterested during meetings.
It’s apparent that numerous teams had concerns about Mitchell in meeting him. Of the seven WR-needy teams selecting in Mitchell’s range, all chose to go in different directions.
Jacksonville Jaguars (23): Brian Thomas Jr.
Kansas City Chiefs (28): Xavier Worthy
San Francisco 49ers (31): Ricky Pearsall
Carolina Panthers (32): Xavier Legette
Buffalo Bills (33): Keon Coleman
Los Angeles Chargers (34): Ladd McConkey
New England Patriots (37): Ja’Lynn Polk
The football talent is unmistakable when it comes to AD Mitchell. Now it will be about how serious these character concerns and claims of immaturity are. If they can be corrected the Colts may have gotten the steal of the draft.
