The Indianapolis Colts agreed to a deal with veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen on Monday night, but fans shouldn't worry that Allen's signing means bad things for Alec Pierce. At least, not any more concerning than Pierce's injury situation already was.
The reason is threefold. For one, Allen is not the same kind of receiver that Pierce is. While Allen has been tremendously productive throughout his storied career, he is more of a possession receiver than Pierce, who is arguably the most explosive wideout in the NFL.
One shouldn't want Allen to be Pierce's replacement because having that happen limits what Indy's offense can do. Instead, the two would work well off of each other. Allen is the dangerous threat on underneath patterns, helping pick up first downs. Pierce can take the top off any defense, so opponents have to worry about all areas of the field with Pierce and Allen on the field.
Indianapolis Colts adding Keenan Allen should have little to do with Alec Pierce's status
The concern is that Pierce, who signed a four-year deal this past offseason that will pay him as much as $114 million, hasn't returned from his March surgery yet, and he isn't expected to return until at least near the end of the preseason. He will possibly miss the start of the season.
That leads to the second reason the addition of Allen doesn't have a direct bearing on Pierce. Since the Indianapolis Colts traded Michael Pittman Jr. to the Pittsburgh Steelers in March, the team has needed a new WR3, and no one already on the roster appeared set to emerge as a valuable third option at receiver.
The discussion of the possibility of Indy signing Keenan Allen began soon after the Pittman trade and well before Pierce's series of seeming setbacks from his surgery. Pierce was originally thought to be back early in training camp, but the speculation that Allen would go to the Colts had already started at least a month before.
That is because of the third point here. While Pittman was a quality wideout for many years for Indianapolis, he was also far too expensive for the team, as he had a $29 million cap hit in 2026. Pittman was good, but he wasn't so good that his production was at a level to be worthy of that much money.
With Pittman gone, Allen was a logical fit as a replacement. He played under head coach Shane Steichen when Steichen was with the Los Angeles Chargers from 2016 to 2020. Even with a healthy Pierce, Allen would have been needed and was an easy choice because of his history with Steichen.
Ultimately, Colts fans don't need to worry about Alec Pierce simply because of the Keenan Allen signing. That likely would have happened even if Pierce was never injured. The positive is that now that Allen is with the team and Pierce will eventually be healthy, Indy's offense is better than it was a week ago.
Add us as a preferred source on Google