The Indianapolis Colts lost wide receiver Alec Pierce early in the season after he reinjured the heel that he had surgery on in March. To hopefully help offset the explosive wideout's loss for an unknown period of time, Indy signed Darius Slayton. Slayton, though, will apparently never play a down with the Colts, as he was released on Friday.
After signing a few weeks ago, Slayton, who had been released by his previous team, the New York Giants, after final roster cuts were made, expected to play for Indianapolis right away. Instead, he was a healthy scratch for two games, then hurt his knee in practice and missed his third game.
He was seemingly ready to play in Week 6, but the Colts had different thoughts and let him go. The move, on the surface, is exceedingly illogical, but unfortunately, that isn't something that likely shocks Indy fans after watching the team operate for nine years with general manager Chris Ballard.
Indianapolis Colts releasing Darius Slayton another non-sensical move
The Slayton decision is just another in a long line of seemingly strange moves this year alone. Ballard wanted to get younger and more athletic along the defensive front seven, but signed free agents such as Micheal Clemons and Jerry Tillery, two players who hadn't been good in previous seasons and haven't been good for the Colts this season, either.
Ballard also traded linebacker Zaire Franklin to the Green Bay Packers and released fellow 2025 ILB starter Germaine Pratt (but don't worry! This week Indianapolis re-signed Pratt after no other team wanted to take a chance on him) and drafted CJ Allen with their first choice in the 2026 NFL Draft.
After raving about Allen after choosing him, including claiming that Allen could be the green dot on Lou Anarumo's defense immediately, the team hasn't given the rookie much of a chance to play. He finally saw more reps in Week 5, and it was just meh. Hopefully, with more playing time, he will improve.
But after signing Pratt, and with linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither now the green dot after Week 1, saw a defensive meltdown with safety Cam Bynum with the task of communicating play calls, Allen doesn't appear to be a long-term fit as a starter. Not this season, anyway.
The overall problem is that the recent Darius Slayton move shows that Chris Ballard continues to make moves that make little sense. Slayton had great speed and a past working relationship with quarterback Daniel Jones, but the Slayton-Jones connection wasn't given a chance to play out for the Indianapolis Colts.
The only positive is that maybe Slayton's release means Alec Pierce is getting closer to returning, but that appears to be unlikely. Instead, with no explosive wideout, the offense will probably continue to be limited, with defenses able to cheat and play close to the line of scrimmage in hopes of slowing down running back Jonathan Taylor.
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