The Jets’ offense keeps looking more dangerous in camp, but not everyone around the NFL seems to have noticed.
Adonai Mitchell has been one of the biggest stories of the summer in New York. He has backed up the offseason buzz, locked in as the clear No. 2 receiver and emerging as a real breakout candidate.
Outside of No. 2 pick and rookie edge rusher David Bailey, Mitchell may have had the best training camp of any Jets player. He’s already become a familiar name to Jets fans, and he’s the kind of player fantasy managers are going to start circling in the middle rounds.
That’s why Pro Football Focus’ recent ranking of the Jets’ receiving corps at No. 24 landed with a thud. It’s not a disastrous placement, but it also leaves out two names that have been central to the conversation in camp: Mitchell and tight end Mason Taylor. Instead, PFF listed Garrett Wilson, running back Breece Hall, and rookies Omar Cooper Jr. and Kenyon Sadiq as the main offensive pieces.
“The Jets owned the lowest PFF receiving grade in the league last season (60.3) and were the only offense to register fewer than 50 explosive passing plays, but they’ve attempted to put things right this offseason,” the service wrote.
The problem is that the camp buzz tells a different story. Mitchell has been excellent, Taylor has drawn steady positive attention, and the Jets have already shown a glimpse of what Mitchell can bring. In Friday’s preseason win over the Steelers, Mitchell and Geno Smith hooked up for two catches and 29 yards on back-to-back plays on the Jets’ opening drive.
And this isn’t a case where the numbers from last year would somehow soften the omission. The Jets’ 2025 passing game was flat-out bad, and Brady Cook didn’t top 200 passing yards in any of his four starts.
What makes the PFF take feel even stranger is how much of the Jets’ camp has already been out in the open. Mitchell has been tremendous.
Taylor has continued to build momentum. Sadiq, meanwhile, hasn’t practiced while recovering from hernia surgery.
At this point, Sadiq doesn’t really belong in the discussion. There’s no timeline for his return, though the Jets haven’t said he’ll begin the season on injured reserve. Even if he were healthy, Taylor and Jeremy Ruckert were likely to take most of the tight end snaps anyway.
Cooper is the one exception because he has earned his way onto the field. Even so, he’s not locked in as the unquestioned No. 3 receiver, especially with Isaiah Williams turning heads throughout camp.
So the question is simple: where were Mitchell and Taylor in all of this? Their absence from the conversation is hard to explain, particularly in a New York market where their work has been impossible to ignore. They may not be Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, but both are in position to matter a lot for a Jets offense that needs every dependable weapon it can find, especially with the Cade Klubnik era potentially on the horizon.
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