Adonai Mitchell Camp Update — August 16: The Fork Is Still Waiting for Garrett Wilson
2026 NFL Season · Monday, Aug 17
Adonai Mitchell went unmentioned in the Jets' joint-practice and preseason-opener reporting this week. The June question was which target share is real, six percent or twenty-five, and that test only runs with Garrett Wilson on the field.
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Quiet week for Adonai Mitchell, and quiet is the one thing his situation cannot use. He drew no mention in the compiled reporting from the Jets' two joint practices against Tampa Bay or from Friday's preseason opener, no catches, no highlighted reps, nothing. For most players that is neutral. For Mitchell it just delays the only measurement that matters.
The June preview said Mitchell's season splits into two different players. In Indianapolis he drew six percent of the targets across eight games, a healthy scratch with a jersey on. After the trade that sent Sauce Gardner the other way, he drew 25 percent of the Jets' targets over the final eight, with both his touchdowns and a hundred-two-yard game against Atlanta. The catch, we said, was twofold: a 45 percent catch rate hung over the whole file, and the 25 percent share was earned entirely after Garrett Wilson's season had ended. The fork was explicit. If the big share survives Wilson's return, Mitchell is a real number two. If it was an artifact of a depleted team throwing to whoever was left, the catch rate is what remains.
The most recent evidence is warm but old, and we date it honestly: back on August fourth, a team-site camp feature from John Pullano had Mitchell drawing praise from Aaron Glenn, Geno Smith, and Wilson himself, who said, "He's a ticking time bomb with him. He's put in the work." Two days later a team-site video caught Smith dropping a corner-of-the-end-zone touchdown into his hands. Encouraging, and pre-window, and none of it counts target share with Wilson running routes on the same field, which is the entire question.
Does the June read hold? UNCHANGED — the fork June described has not been tested, because no report this week put a number, good or bad, next to his name, and the share question only runs with Wilson on the field.
Next week: the Jets play the Steelers Friday, August 20-first. Watch whether Mitchell works with the starting offense and where the targets go when he and Wilson share the field. We'll check next Sunday.
_Data via nflverse._
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