The Indianapolis Colts, despite a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, are in a pretty good place in the NFL right now.
As some teams around the league come to terms with the fact that they will not be competing for a Super Bowl in February, the Colts, whose 7-2 record is tied for the best in the NFL, may be buying before today's 3 p.m. CT trade deadline. And when you buy, sometimes that means parting ways with young, unrealized talent in exchange for more proven, urgently needed players. That's precisely what Indianapolis may end up doing, too.
“The needs for Indy before their loss to Pittsburgh were cornerback and edge rusher, in that order,” CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones wrote. “I would not rule out the Colts potentially trading a player, either. I have heard from teams who are monitoring second-year receiver Adonai Mitchell, who has two catches on four targets since the start of October. Mitchell was a second-round pick in the 2024 draft.”
Mitchell, the 52nd overall pick in last year's draft, caught 23 passes (out of 55 targets) for 312 yards and no touchdowns as a rookie. He was on the field about 35% of the time as the Colts went 8-9 while flip-flopping on quarterbacks Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco.
This season, Mitchell has played eight games, notably being benched for the Week 6 game vs. the Arizona Cardinals. The following week, he had one catch for eight yards. He had zero catches in Week 8 and one for seven yards this past weekend. Since his three-reception, 96-yard performance vs. the Los Angeles Rams over a month ago, Mitchell has not been targeted more than once in any game.
It's not particularly surprising that the Rams game may have been the beginning of the end for Mitchell, despite setting a career-high in yards, as he committed two critical errors during what was the Colts' first loss of the season. One was dropping the ball before the end zone on what would have been a 75-yard touchdown reception (and his first-ever NFL TD), and the other was holding on what would have been a 53-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Taylor.
While young players make mistakes all the time, the Colts are undoubtedly contenders at the moment, and contenders aren't nearly as accepting of mistakes, especially when, as Jones wrote, there are needs elsewhere that can be filled by trading a player like Mitchell.
If he is not traded today, Mitchell will be making his way to Berlin with the Colts, who play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday in Germany.
