Colts GM Chris Ballard On Adonai Mitchell: 'He Can Kind of Do It All'

Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard spoke after selecting Adonai Mitchell and Matt Goncalves.

Texas Longhorns wide receiver Adonai Mitchell (5) makes a catch for a first down during the Big 12 / Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman /

After drafting their top defensive player in the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday, UCLA defensive end Laiatu Latu, the Indianapolis Colts got to work again on Friday in Rounds 2 and 3, adding more players that they loved.

The Colts traded back in the second round, ultimately acquiring Texas wide receiver Adonai (AD) Mitchell with the 52nd pick before trading up three spots in the third round to take Pittsburgh offensive lineman Matt Goncalves with the 79th pick.

After the action was over, Colts general manager Chris Ballard spoke with the media. The full media session can be seen here.

On what the team is getting in Mitchell and how he complements the receiver corps.

"Excited to get AD – very, very talented young man. We’ve got really good connections at Texas and felt good. We went down there – Shane (Steichen), Jim Bob (Cooter), and a group went down and spent a lot of time with them. So, we feel really good – a very talented young man. He’s young. I think after visiting with him you see he’s got a nice little chip on his shoulder, which is a good thing."

“I think he (Mitchell) can kind of do it all. He’s got work to do, but he is really skilled. He’s a really skilled athlete. Like any wideout that comes in this league, it’s an adjustment period because the coverage is tighter. You have to be better and more detailed on your route running. He’s extremely skilled – there’s not a lot he can’t do athletically. We’ll see how he comes along.”

“Yeah, we are excited about AD. You know our philosophy – one, you have to protect. We’ve always said that. We feel fortunate to be able to get AD. I think he will help us. We are not expecting him to be Superman right away. I think he expects himself to be Superman right away, but we don’t expect that. We expect him to come in and develop. We’ve got a good group. (Michael) Pittman (Jr.) is back and he’s hungry. You’ve got Josh Downs in year two who we thought had a great rookie year. We’ve got (Alec) Pierce who we think is going to take another step. We get Ashton Dulin back. We think we’ve got a really good group.”

Head coach Shane Steichen and wide receivers coach Reggie Wayne "beat the drum" for Mitchell and why Wayne is a great fit to be Mitchell's position coach.

“They were beating the drum for a while now. They think – I mean, we all did. Look, he’s an extremely talented young man, and I think we’re all really excited to get him.”

“Really good, really good. I haven’t said enough about Reggie and how proud I am. I’ve gotten to know Reggie well even before he coached here. It’s not easy to do what he did. To come in and coach and never really have any experience – and then just to watch the growth of him has been really cool, that’s been fun. He’s turning out to be a freaking (expletive) good football coach, man. Like I always tell Reggie, ‘Reggie, they can’t do what you did. They’re not you, but what do they do well and how do you reach them?’ Yeah, I love Reggie. He’s really grown, it’s been pretty cool.”

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On what the team is getting in Goncalves and how he fits into the offensive line group.

“Being able to get Matt in the third, come back and get a tackle/guard – he’s got a lot of position flexibility. He’s started at left tackle, started at right tackle. We think he can play guard. We’re not so sure he can’t play center. So, excited to get him.”

“It’s funny because I actually got to see him play at left tackle because their right tackle got hurt the year before when he was the starting right tackle and kicked to left tackle. So, you got to see him play left tackle so that was good because we go back and watch junior tape – younger tape too. We have a good feel for who he is. That was probably one of the most fun calls I’ve had now – it was fun. He’ll fit in now.”

“No, I mean look, you can never have enough good linemen. I think he’ll come in and he’ll compete. He’ll compete and put some heat on guys. I think guys get better when there’s great competition. We have some really good players upfront, but he just adds to the group.”

“We’ll see (if Goncalves will primarily play inside). I mean, he’s got such versatility, and with (Blake) Freeland coming back at tackle, it gives you another tackle in the mix, which is good. Freeland has gotten bigger and stronger. I think you’ll see that when you see him again – he’s gotten bigger and stronger, which is the same development that Bernie (Bernhard Raimann) had. So, we expect Freeland to take a step, and adding Matt into the group gives us some good flexibility and depth.”

The Colts aren't done trying to add defensive back help, but they also didn't consider trading up for it earlier.

“Yeah. I mean, sometimes the draft – it just goes the way it goes. You try to make something and get some things done. Sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t. We don’t have control of other teams. We still have some other guys left. We got more picks – we’ve got five right now. I guess you’ll see if we get more or have less, I don’t know. We’ll see how the day goes tomorrow.”

“No because, no (on trading up for a DB). No. Just didn’t see the value.”

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