Horseshoe Huddle

Re-Signing Alec Pierce is Mission Critical for Colts

Indianapolis Colts pass catcher Alec Pierce has emerged as an indispensable piece to the team.
Zach Hicks|
Dec 22, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce (14) looks for a pass interference call during a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images
Dec 22, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce (14) looks for a pass interference call during a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images | Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

In this story:

Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce is set to become a free agent this offseason. General manager Chris Ballard has called Pierce a priority for the team, but his market should be among the biggest of all free agent receivers in 2026. Should the Colts be willing to pay the premium price it would take to bring Pierce back?

In today’s free agent profile, we dive into the career of Alec Pierce. He is a former second-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Cincinnati University. He got off to a relatively slow start in the NFL, only totaling 1,107 total yards receiving in his first two years of play. Part of the problem was the lack of arm talent at the quarterback position in Indianapolis, but the Colts still wanted to see more out of their young receiver.

Pierce’s lack of true starter production through two seasons led to the team selecting Adonai Mitchell in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Mitchell was seen as a potential replacement for Pierce down the line, and this was the main push for Pierce to assert himself more in the offense. Heading into the 2024 season, he did exactly that. Fueled by the best offseason of his career and much more arm talent at the quarterback position, Pierce churned out a career-best season in 2024.

Despite missing a game due to injury and having to deal with multiple starting quarterbacks, Pierce exploded for 824 yards receiving and seven touchdowns in his third season. He led the NFL with 22.4 yards per reception and also emerged as the team’s premier late-game option, hauling in a game-winning score against the New England Patriots in the final seconds and totaling over 100 yards of offense in the fourth quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Pierce followed up that campaign with an even better season in 2025. He missed 2.5 games due to injuries/ejection, but still managed to hit 1,003 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 47 receptions. He once again led the NFL in yards per reception (21.3) and averaged over 100 yards receiving per game against the Houston Texans in two matchups. His ascension partly led to the Colts trading away Mitchell in a package for All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner at the trade deadline.

On film, Pierce’s ascension has been fantastic. He has continued the bright spots from his early career and has rounded out some of the deficiencies in his game to boot. The core elements that make up what Pierce is great at, though, are his deep ball prowess, his ability to beat press-man coverage, his improvements as a route runner, and the Colts’ willingness to rely on him in big moments.

It’s no secret that Pierce is among the league’s best deep threats. Even in his first two seasons with noodle arm quarterbacks taking a majority of the snaps, Pierce still excelled on the vertical plane. Matt Ryan in particular was always a big fan of Pierce; he just didn’t have the arm to get him the ball down the field. That all changed in 2024 with Anthony Richardson and even Joe Flacco at the helm.

Since 2024, the Colts’ offense has an astounding 0.688 EPA per play when targeting Pierce 20+ yards down the field. He has hauled in 24 of 58 targets for 968 yards and 8 touchdowns with that distinction, and his average depth of target on these routes has sat closer to 35 yards down the field than the cut-off of 20. He is the perfect blend of height/weight/speed, and his ability to stack defenders on the vertical plane is unmatched.

Once he wins inside position on a defender, he turns 50/50 passes into 80/20 balls. He also does a fantastic job of generating hidden yardage by drawing penalties, as he has drawn 18 pass interference calls for a total of 384 yards the last two years.

Diving more into the details, though, his ability to beat press coverage is at the core of his downfield success. Pierce is a height/weight/speed demon, but there are plenty of guys with his build that don’t have near the downfield success that he has. One of his calling cards since his rookie season has been his ability to stack defenders at the line and blow by them once they are even.

Pierce’s go-to move is something called a jab step. I’ve mistakenly called it a rocker step in the past because it’s eerily similar to a basketball move, but the key to this move is an explosive first step. Pierce becomes a salesman at the line of scrimmage and sells an inside (or outside) move with a hard jab. This freezes the defender just enough to allow Pierce to get on top of them, and from there, the two players are even. There’s an old moniker that says "if he’s even, then he’s leavin’” and that applies tenfold with a player like Pierce.

So far, I’ve painted the picture that Pierce is a fantastic deep ball receiver, but we’ve seen this archetype time and time again. Players like Gabe Davis, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Dyami Brown are fun players down the field, but they are a dime a dozen. What makes Pierce, in my opinion, closer to the next evolution of the archetype compared to those aforementioned players? His improvements as a route runner.

Pierce will always be a bit stiff due to his build and his natural limitations, but he has gotten better each and every year as a route runner. He has become much better as a salesman, utilizing his speed threat and reputation to create space in the intermediate game for himself.

He has also vastly improved with his ability to throttle down at full speed and explode out of his breaks. He’ll never be a player that can separate like Josh Downs, but he has turned more into a Tee Higgins type that can create just enough to give space for his elite catch radius.

The final point I want to make about Pierce is how often he comes up big in clutch situations. A receiver’s worth in this league can directly be tied to how often an offense prioritizes them in big situations. We saw in 2024 how often the Colts went to Pierce with the game on the line, and he repeated that performance in 2025 (with just fewer opportunities).

He made massive receptions against the Denver Broncos, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Seattle Seahawks (all playoff teams) that either propelled the Colts to victory or gave them the lead late in the ball game. When called upon, Pierce showcased the ability to make the big play.

Pierce has consistently shown up when called upon with the Colts, and it’s a big part of why I think that he has true number one receiver potential. The Colts paying him at 20-25 million dollars per year would be a massive investment, but I’ve seen all that I need to see to say that he’s plenty worthy of it. At just 25 years old, he has gotten better each and every season, and the Colts should be the team to reap the rewards of that development going forward.

Recommended Articles

Published
Zach Hicks
ZACH HICKS

Zach Hicks is the Lead Analyst for HorseshoeHuddle.com. Zach has been on the NFL beat since 2017. His works have appeared on SBNation.com, the Locked On Podcast Network, BleacherReport.com, MSN.com, & Yardbarker.com. 

Share on XFollow ZachHicks2
Home/News