After making Adonai Mitchell the 52nd pick overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard delivered a hilarious and expletive-filled rant on pre-draft negative reports about the wide receiver.
With so much money involved in the NFL, it is understandable why teams go through a very in-depth process to learn as much as possible about the players they might invest a valuable draft pick and millions of dollars in. Sometimes their information comes from the work of talent evaluators, and sometimes from sources outside the organization.
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Heading into the 2024 NFL Draft, Mitchell saw his stock fall over the last few days from reports that he did not interview well in the lead-up to this week’s event and that some teams had a tough time getting a read on him as a player and person.
That speculation came up during a Friday press conference Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard had following the team’s selections on Day 2 of the NFL Draft. And the executive took those negative reports to task as he defended a player her calls “a good kid.”
Indianapolis Colts GM blasts anonymous sources and their negative reports on Adonai Mitchell
“I read some of the b***s*** that was said. I mean just the typical f******, excuse my language, our typical league,” Ballard said. “Unnamed sources, you know, bad interview, that’s such b***s***. I mean it f****** is. It’s b***s***. Put your name on it. We tear these young men down. These are 21, 22-year-old men and if people out there can tell me they’re perfect in their lives, it’s crap. It’s crap.
“This is a good kid. For those reports to come out, I said it last year, it’s b**s***. I’m sorry. I apologize for the language. I don’t, but I do.”
Mitchell is a big receiver who has been a reliable target in the end zone and has more finesse than most players his size. He has a big upside and has big game experience after being a part of two championship teams in Georgia before transferring to Texas last year.
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