Steelers Draft Profile: Texas WR AD Mitchell a Smooth Playmaker on the Perimeter

INDIANAPOLIS – To the surprise of many, the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t shown much interest in the quarterback group here in Indy, but they have met with quite a few of the top wide receivers already. Even with the talented duo of George Pickens and Diontae Johnson under contract for next season, there’s no doubt that they still need to add more firepower on offense. Fortunately for them, this class is littered with different flavors of talented playmakers that can come in and contributed immediately. One of the players that the Steelers have formally met with is Adonai Mitchell, an underclassman who finished his career at Texas.

After beginning his career at Georgia, helping them secure a National Championship in 2022, Mitchell transferred in order to be closer to his three-year-old daughter. Now healthy and in a much bigger role, he exploded on to the scene and truly took his game to a different level, hauling in 55 catches for 845 yards and 11 touchdowns. His performance on the field gave teams a glimpse of his talent but he feels part of his game is being slept on, “I’d say the versatility, being able to play outside receiver and slot receiver.”

For his size, Mitchell has a very unique style of play, in part due to his approach to route running. “I like to change my pace in routes. I never run routes full speed, that’s just a part of my game that allows me to run routes for the whole drive and mostly feel like I’m in control against the people that I’m going against.” When you go back and watch the tape from this past season, Mitchell cooked plenty of talented cover corners.

Because of how smooth he is, it’s hard to find an extremely good pro comparison for his profile. When asked which receivers he models his game after, Mitchell gave an honest and humorous answer. “I try to modify my game after a lot of guys, there’s a lot of guys doing some really good things. Just try to take every little nugget out of one person’s game and add it to my game. If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying and I definitely try to cheat a lot.”

Mitchell confirmed his formal meeting with the Steelers to the media and was complimentary of head coach Mike Tomlin, saying “I’ve seen a lot videos of him talking and stuff. He’s like the king of quotes. That’s what I’d call him, he’s dropping knowledge.” Pittsburgh has obviously had a fantastic run of drafting wide receivers, consistently identifying and developing talent on the perimeter. They’re looking to continue that in 2024, and Mitchell’s traits are tantalizing to think about.

TALE OF THE TAPE

Measured at the 2024 NFL Combine: 6-foot-2 1/2, 205 pounds, 9-inch hands, 32 3/8-inch arms, 77 5/8-inch wingspan

Aside from his NFL frame, Mitchell is very athletic as he ran the third fastest 40-yard dash (4.34) time out of all of the wide receivers and an impressive 1.52-second split. On his jumps, Mitchell finished in the upper third of wide receivers as he posted a 39 1/2-inch vertical and a group-leading 11-foot-4 broad jump.

WHERE WILL ADONAI MITCHELL BE DRAFTED?

Over the course of the year, Mitchell improved his stock and has stabilized that ranking over the past several months. With good testing numbers in Indianapolis, there’s a real chance that he could begin to get legitimate first round buzz, but he should be considered a top-50 lock. This means the Steelers would have to take him with their second-round pick, if he even fell that far.

ADONAI MITCHELL SCOUTING REPORT/HOW DOES HE FIT?

Even before taking his size into account, Mitchell is an incredibly deceptive route runner