Adonai Mitchell says the play that helped change his path in Indianapolis kept replaying in his head long after the game ended.
The former Colts wide receiver, now with the New York Jets, opened up on The Pivot Podcast about the 2025 fumble against the Los Angeles Rams and the trade that followed five weeks later. Mitchell said the moment forced him to confront every little detail of the game.
"When it happened, it was very humbling," Mitchell said on his fumble. "It just taught me the little things, the little details of the game."
The sequence in Week 4 was brutal. After hauling in a deep ball, Mitchell slipped past two Rams defenders and looked set for a 76-yard Colts touchdown. But as he got close to the goal line, he switched the ball from one hand to the other and fumbled it through the back of the end zone.
He said the aftermath hit hard away from the stadium, too.
"I had to go home to an empty house and live through that (expletive) over and over," Mitchell said. "I had to look in the mirror, and I knew it was my fault from the jump.
I didn't even have to see the replay, I just started jogging off the field. I pretty much know what's going to come from this now."
Mitchell’s move to New York came as part of a major deal that sent Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis. The Colts added the elite defensive back, a former No. 4 overall pick, along with two first-round picks while they were 7-2.
For Mitchell, the trade was a jolt. "Tuesday I woke up a Colt, and went to sleep a New York Jet," he said.
The transition also reset his surroundings. He’s now in a Jets wide receiver room that includes 2026 first round pick Omar Cooper Jr., an Indianapolis native and 2026 college football national champion with Indiana.
Mitchell entered the league as a second-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and showed flashes as a rookie behind Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs and Alec Pierce, finishing with 312 yards on 23 catches. Through two NFL seasons, he has 765 yards and two touchdowns.
Now in year three, Mitchell says he’s focused on moving forward.
"Everything that's in the past, is in the past," Mitchell said. "I can't go back and change it."
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