Mitchell played a part in Patriots history

Unable to come back from knee woes, Malcolm Mitchell announced his retirement from pro football. Mitchell's contribution to the Patriots' historic 34-28 overtime win over Atlanta should never be forgotten in New England.

The announcement, made Friday at his alma mater, Georgia, went largely unnoticed in these parts, and it shouldn’t have.

For without Malcolm Mitchell's services, there is no historic comeback by the Patriots in Super Bowl LI.

Lacking his clutch production in the fourth quarter of that game, the Patriots’ six Super Bowl championships number five.

In the end, Mitchell's knees may have been lacking, prompting him to announce his retirement from football months after his release from the Patriots at an age when he should have been flourishing in the NFL, but for one February night in 2017 his hands sure weren’t.

Simply put, without Mitchell’s hands the 2016 Patriots don't have Super Bowl rings on their fingers.

A fourth-round pick in 2016, after years of draft failures at the position it appeared as though the Patriots had finally hit on a wide receiver when Mitchell closed out his rookie campaign with 25 receptions for 306 yards and four touchdowns over the last six regular-season games and stepped up when it mattered most on football’s biggest stage.

After years filled with the likes of Bethel Johnson (second round, 2003), Chad Jackson (second round, 2006), Brandon Tate (third round, 2009), Taylor Price (third round, 2010), Aaron Dobson (second round, 2013) and Josh Boyce (fourth round, 2013) – the lone productive wide receiver they’d drafted from 2009 on being a converted college quarterback (Julian Edelman in the seventh round) – it appeared as though the Patriots had finally found a player who would be Tom Brady’s batterymate for years to come.

Off the field, Mitchell was an interesting personality. A true story of perseverance, he struggled with reading at a student but grew to love it, joining a women's book club to improve his reading skills, authoring a children's book, “The Magician’s Hat" while in college and encouraging kids to read through his "Read With Malcolm" program.

With Brady out, serving the first game of his Deflategate suspension, Mitchell broke into pro football by catching two passes from Jimmy Garoppolo for 33 yards in the Patriots’ 23-21 season-opening win at Arizona on Sept. 11, 2016.

Come Nov. 20 of that year, he was catching his first touchdown pass as a pro, a 56-yard catch and run on a fourth-quarter pass from Brady that broke open the game and was part of a four-reception, 98-yard performance in a 30-17 victory at San Francisco.

The following week, a five-catch, 42-yard, two-touchdown effort in a 22-17 win over the New York Jets in East Rutherford, N.J., as one could see Brady's faith in the youngster grow.

Another week and more production: eight catches in 10 targets for 82 yards in a 26-10 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Foxboro.

Then another four receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown in a 30-23 triumph over the Baltimore Ravens at home on Dec. 12.

Given the circumstances, though, Mitchell saved his best for last: six receptions in seven targets for 70 yards, including all five passes thrown his way in the fourth quarter for 63 yards, four of them moving the chains, as the Patriots came storming back from a 28-3 second-half deficit to defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-28, in overtime in Houston the night of Feb. 5, 2017.

The future seemed bright and, given the current state of their wide receiver corps, oh, how the Patriots could use Mitchell, still just 25, now.

In the end, though, he was unable to fight through knee problems that had plagued him since college, leaving his NFL resume to read: 32 receptions for 405 yards and four touchdowns in 14 regular-season games, seven catches for 75 yards in two postseason affairs.

In September of 2017, the Patriots placed Mitchell on the injured reserve list. Still fighting to make his way back but unable to get on the practice field, in August of 2018 he was waived by the team.

As recently as a couple of months ago, it was January of this year Mitchell remained hopeful that he would play again with someone someday, telling ESPN.com: “I’m still motivated. I’m still encouraged. I’m recovering – the last surgery totaled out to be No. 10, and it takes a little while to come back from it, but I am working my way back. And I’ll be back.”

Ultimately, Mitchell may have failed in this comeback bid.

Never to be forgotten, though, is the role he played in the comeback the Patriots staged a couple of years ago, one they couldn't have made without him.