At his media session on Tuesday, Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard offered updates on the health of several key players. The news about quarterback Daniel Jones and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner was very positive. As for freshly minted WR1 Alec Pierce … there remains some cause for concern.
Ballard gave Pierce a contract placing him in the top 15 of all NFL receivers this offseason. After leading the league two consecutive years in yards-per-catch, the fifth-year wideout is expected to take on a more prominent role in the passing game this season, with a wider route tree featuring more intermediate pass patterns.
That large contract essentially forced Ballard to trade away Michael Pittman, the veteran who had developed into one of the more reliable intermediate possession receivers in the league.
Which Indianapolis Colts receivers will step up in Alec Pierce’s absence?
Consequently, Shane Steichen was already tasked with finding a new receiver to join Pierce and slot option Josh Downs in base three-receiver sets. With Pierce still on the mend from offseason ankle surgery, that task is even more daunting than it initially appeared.
To be clear, the prognosis for Pierce’s eventual return remains good. It is likely that he will be back on the field in another week or two and will be just fine come opening day against the Ravens.
But injuries have been known to linger, and lower-body issues with receivers may be the most prone of any to cause problems longer than they should. What happens if Pierce’s return is delayed?
The Colts currently have eleven receivers (not including Pierce) on their roster. A glance at their names does not inspire great confidence. Excluding Downs, who has developed into a very good slot receiver and should have a nice year in 2026, the other ten receivers combined for 18 catches and 201 yards in 2025.
That’s all ten of them. Pittman caught 87 balls for 940 yards and scored four TDs last year. And he is already gone. Take away Pierce’s 47 catches, 1,003 yards, and six touchdowns, and you see the problem.
To be fair, four of those ten receivers could not have any stats last season because they are rookies. Of the foursome, seventh-round draft pick Deion Burks is the most promising. He has excellent speed and is an explosive athlete.
The other three – Raylen Sharpe, Sahmir Hagans, and EJ Horton – also have athletic attributes that make them intriguing to watch. But all of them – including Burks – come with major red flags.
Burks, for all his athletic prowess, was not an especially effective downfield receiver at Oklahoma. In two seasons as a Sooner, he pulled in 88 receptions but didn’t even crack 900 total yards. His 9.8 yards-per-catch over his last two years is very difficult to understand, and it does not suggest a player who is likely to become a deep threat in the NFL.
The other three rookies are all undrafted free agents. Sharpe’s size mostly relegates him to the slot, while both Horton and Hagans had similarly mundane big-play numbers as Burks during their college careers.
Alec Gould, Coleman Owen, and Eli Pancol were all with the club last year. Gould and Owen serve primarily as kick returners, while Pancol has yet to suit up for an NFL game.
If you’re doing the math, that means seven of Indy’s ten depth receivers have a combined total of three NFL receptions – all coming from Gould. Then there are the three veterans – Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Ashton Dulin, and Laquon Treadwell. Their numbers for 2025? 16 catches. 195 yards. Zero touchdowns.
Again, that is combined.
Westbrook-Ikhine is already penciled in as a starter in three-receiver sets. He seemed on the verge of a breakout in Tennessee in 2024, but his one year in Miami proved underwhelming. He is looking to rebound with a better offense this year, and he clearly offers the most potential as a playmaker in the coming season.
That said, the UDFA from Indiana is 29 and has never caught more than 40 passes or gone for over 500 yards in his six-year career. How likely is he to have a major surge at 29?
At this point in their careers, Dulin and Treadwell are primarily special teamers. It does not seem reasonable to expect any offense from Treadwell, who has not caught an NFL pass since 2023.
Dulin, on the other hand, had catches of 48 and 35 yards in very limited action last season. Though he has never regained the productivity he showed prior to his ACL tear in 2023, he still shows flashes of playmaking.
Dulin has a real chance to step up in Pierce’s absence. Westbrook-Ikhine may get more opportunities to run a wider range of patterns early on. And perhaps one of the rookies or other young players can use the space created by Pierce’s (hopefully) temporary absence to score points with the coaches.
Right now, it is wide open. In his time as GM, Ballard has found plenty of fine players, but he has often seemed to have trouble building quality depth. That appears to be the case at receiver as camp begins. Very soon, we’ll see if that is indeed true – or if there are some hidden gems amongst the Colts’ unheralded collection of backup pass catchers.
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