Mitchell polled 30 votes in the 2011 Brownlow Medal, but was ineligible to win after an incident in round 5 of the season; he had the second-most votes, behind Collingwood's Dane Swan. In 2012, Mitchell, along with Richmond's Trent Cotchin, both finished tied for second place in the Brownlow to Jobe Watson. On 12 January 2016 the World Anti-Doping Agency found Watson and another 33 Essendon players guilty of taking a prohibited substance during the 2012 AFL season, an AFL commission meeting in November 2016 determined the implications for the 2012 Brownlow Medal. On 15 November 2016, Mitchell and Cotchin were both retrospectively awarded the medal, and, on 13 December 2016, both were formally presented with the Medals in a private ceremony in Melbourne.