AUSTIN — Despite an MVP-worthy season from Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills’ passing offense failed them in the postseason, as a 27-24 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional saw Buffalo finish with just 186 passing yards to cap off another year of playoff heartbreak. As the Super Bowl window begins to shrink with each passing season, the future of Buffalo’s receiving corps continues to be a major question mark headed into the 2024 campaign. The star-level production of Stefon Diggs has been fading since October and Gabe Davis will likely explore free agency this offseason. This makes the 2024 NFL Draft an interesting time for Buffalo to use its first-round pick on a pass-catcher for the second straight season.
ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. released his latest mock draft on Tuesday and predicts the Bills will do just that at No. 28 overall.
With the pick, Kiper has the Bills selecting Texas Longhorns receiver Adonai Mitchell, who is the sixth receiver off the board in the first round of this particular mock. Mitchell, a former teammate of Bills running back James Cook, played at Georgia for two years before returning to his home state of Texas as a transfer this season. He won two national titles with the Bulldogs before posting career-best numbers with the Longhorns, who made their way to the College Football Playoff this season as a result of his contributions. Battle-tested under the bright lights, Mitchell has valuable experience combined with impressive on-field reliability that will likely make NFL general managers salivate a bit.
While his numbers were impressive, finishing his college career with 93 catches for 1,405 yards and 18 touchdowns, Mitchell’s biggest flex is that he appeared in five College Football Playoff games and caught a touchdown in all five. No other player in the 2024 draft class has the kind of numbers to back up their “clutch gene” claims, but Mitchell can.
After injuries limited him from receiving a season’s worth of reps at Georgia, Mitchell showed what a full year of his production looks like during his time in Austin, posting 55 catches for 845 yards and 11 touchdowns, all career-high marks. The Bills could build up a new era of receivers, starting with Mitchell and Khalil Shakir entering his third season. But first we’ll have to wait and see what happens with Diggs and Davis before getting sights set on Buffalo going with a receiver in the first round of April’s draft.