The Indianapolis Colts are putting wide receiver Adonai Mitchell on a probationary period of sorts.
The Colts are expected to make Mitchell active for their Week 5 game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported Saturday. However, Fowler adds that Mitchell is likely to have a limited role as fellow wideout Ashton Dulins could see more snaps in the team’s third wide receiver spot instead.
This news comes after Mitchell, the 22-year-old former second-round pick, made an unforgivable mistake in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams. Mitchell got loose for a deep completion from Colts quarterback Daniel Jones in the third quarter at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
The play should have been a 76-yard touchdown catch by Mitchell. But when he was in the clear, Mitchell put the football out to celebrate and ended up dropping it before crossing the goal line. He ultimately fumbled the ball out of the back of the end zone for a touchback to the Rams rather than a touchdown to the Colts (see the video here).
On top of that, Mitchell was later called for a holding penalty in the fourth quarter that wiped out a 53-yard touchdown run by Colts running back Jonathan Taylor. That pair of mistakes proved to be especially brutal as Indianapolis ended up losing the game by just one score (27-20).
Mitchell is a nifty talent who has impressive physical tools and strong route-running ability. But it appears that Indianapolis will be punishing Mitchell for his mental lapses last week while Dulins gets more opportunities alongside Michael Pittman Jr. and Josh Downs instead.
