Patriots

3 things to know about Terrance Mitchell, new Patriots cornerback

The 29-year-old has had a winding NFL career.

By Tom Westerholm

March 16, 2022

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On Wednesday, the Patriots made a move to shore up their cornerback depth by signing Terrance Mitchell, a 29-year-old who most recently played for the Texans last season.

Here are three things to know about Mitchell.

He has played for a lot of NFL teams

Mitchell was selected in the 7th round of the 2014 draft by the Cowboys after dropping due to his combine times — many teams thought he was too slow to play cornerback. By the time the season rolled around, however, Mitchell drew descriptors such as “athletic freak” and the Cowboys signed him to a four-year deal worth $2.3 million. They ultimately waived him before the season started.

Mitchell then bounced around in the Bears’ organization before returning to the Cowboys, where he registered his first NFL interception. Over the next few years, Mitchell joined the Texans, the Chiefs, and the Browns before returning to the Texans last season. He started 13 out of the 14 games he played in 2021.

He once got in a fight with Jarvis Landry (captured by HBO’s “Hard Knocks”)

During one season of HBO’s critically acclaimed show “Hard Knocks,” which followed the Browns around during training camp, Mitchell got into a fight — a pretty legitimate fight, no less — with Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry.

In the clip, which circulated on Twitter, Landry and Mitchell were competing hard for passes. At one point, Landry made a seemingly impossible catch against Mitchell, prompting someone on the sideline to remark “How in the hell did he catch that?”

But Mitchell hung tough and kept talking trash to Landry, who got fed up.

“I’m not playing with him, period!” Landry exclaimed.

“I told you we some bad-ass kids,” a teammate said.

“Bad-ass kids need their ass whooped sometimes,” Landry answered ominously.

Sure enough, on a later play, Landry made a catch and stumbled to the ground. Mitchell’s momentum appeared to carry him over Landry, who took exception to being stepped over. Landry popped up and fired the ball off Mitchell’s face as hard as he could. The two started throwing real punches and needed to be separated by teammates.

“Those things, this is football,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said at the time. “It’s not something we want, but it’s gonna happen. We’re men.”

The Mitchell signing shouldn’t damage future Pats prospects

Mitchell isn’t a replacement for J.C. Jackson, who signed a lucrative deal with the Chargers, but the Patriots were able to add some defensive depth without costing themselves a compensatory pick, per PatsCap on Twitter. Meanwhile, his $3 million cap hit leaves plenty of room for other additions, especially if the Patriots make further moves to clear space.

Bonus: Mitchell’s post-grad plans

In 2021, Mitchell graduated from Oregon with a degree in Crime, Law and Society. The university included Mitchell in its list of student-athletes, all of whom had a blurb with their plans after graduation such as “Pursue my graduate studies and a film career as a film director while also fulfilling my track and football aspirations” or “Find a job in brand/product marketing in the sports industry.”

Mitchell’s was kind of funny in its simplicity: “Continue playing in the NFL.”

Mitchell has made more than $10 million in his career to date, so that’s pretty good work if you can get it.