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We continue to see mock drafts with the Jets picking a wide receiver at 16.
And a big reason for this is the theory that they supposedly need a WR to play opposite Garrett Wilson.
What is wrong with Adonai Mitchell playing opposite Wilson?
Very highly rated prospect in the 2024 draft out of the University of Texas with a nice size-speed ratio.
He is 6-2, 205 with 4.34 speed.
One of the top receivers in the 2024 draft, he was picked in the second-round (52nd overall) by Indianapolis, and was included by the Colts in their trade for Sauce Gardner.
Why can’t he be the #2 receiver? Why do the Jets need to pick one in the first round?
This is a fantasy football mentality that is pervasive in the coverage of this sport.
Clearly, people pushing the Jets to pick a receiver at 16 weren’t impressed with Mitchell just hauling in 24 passes in his eight games as a Jet after a mid-season trade.
The Jets’ QB play was not good last year.
Time to pull out the Santonio Holmes quote again.
During his time with the Jets, there was a stretch where he didn’t have a lot of catches, and when asked about it, the receivers said, “I can’t throw the ball to myself.”
It always amazes how quickly people are to blame receivers for their catch totals when they are playing for a team with suspect QB play.
Justin Fields’ body of work with the Jets is well-documented, and Tyrod Taylor, who is a little better, didn’t play much before getting hurt.
Over the last month of the season, after Aaron Glenn made Brady Cook the QB, Mitchell had 12 catches on 27 targets.
That ratio isn’t great. It’s well-documented that Cook, who is an awesome, hard-working young man with great character, had accuracy issues at Missouri (that is why he went undrafted), and those issues continued in the NFL.
This isn’t due to a lack of effort. He works his tail off. Sometimes this QB accuracy stuff is tough to fix. He did make some progress, but still has a ways to go.
That ratio of targeting a receiver 27 times, and the player just having 12 receptions, is not ideal.
And I remember tweeting at one point over the last month from a game – “Cook and Mitchell don’t seem to be on the same page.”
Playing against a lot of backups in Buffalo, Mitchell had no catches in the season finale against the Bills. How does that make any sense?
Now, it would be unfair to blame Cook for all of the awry passes thrown to Mitchell, but to assess Mitchell as a player right now, after he played mainly with Anthony Richardson in Indy, and then mostly with Fields/Cook with the Jets, how can you fairly critique this player?
When I think about the Jets QB play last year, it makes Geno Smith look like a panacea for this passing offense, and believe me, I’m not putting Smith in Canton.
So to me, Mitchell can be a good #2 with steady QB play, and team MVP Isaiah Williams can be a heck of a third option, a terrific slot-receiver, and bubble screen-jet sweep dude.
Quinton Skinner and Irv Charles are too big receivers, with a lot of potential, also in the mix.
Arian Smith, and his world-class speed, is also in the WR room. Smith is another guy who is getting criticized for last year. How about better QB play and dialing up more plays for him before judging him? He was in the witness protection program most of last year.
Look, the Jets should absolutely pick a receiver in this draft, I’m just saying, at 16, that could be a little high with all their other needs, especially on defense.
Yes, they went hog wild in free agency, signing defenders, but they still need a dominating edge-rusher, an elite coverage linebacker to play next to Demario Davis, and more help in the secondary.
Look, if they are on the clock at 16, and their value board has a receiver ranked as the highest player, and it’s not close with a defender, of course, they should give serious thought to picking a wide-out.
Teams spend millions on scouting for the draft, including the scouts’ salaries and the enormous budget for all their travel, so if you are going to have these guys cross the nation looking at talent year-round, and then you use their grades to stack your value board, regardless of position, you should stick to the board as much as possible.
My point is, don’t pick a receiver because it’s supposedly a big need.
It’s not. Better QB play is a bigger need.
As many in the scouting community often say, “Quarterbacks make receivers, receivers don’t make quarterbacks.”
March 27, 2026
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