Pierce: Being ready for ‘Week 1 is the goal’

Pierce will be sidelined for at least four weeks after suffering the injury in Week 2 against Kansas City. Pierce had seen 19 percent of the Colts’ targets and 53 percent of the team’s air yards in Week 1 against the Ravens, resuming his role as a strictly-downfield pass catcher. With Pierce out, Josh Downs should have every chance to operate as the Colts’ No. 1 wideout while Tyler Warren sees a bump in targets. Laquon Treadwell is likely to take over as the team’s lone deep threat. Treadwell can be picked up in 14-team fantasy formats ahead of the Colts’ Week 3 matchup with the Texans.

Pierce will most certainly be out for numerous games after appearing to re-injure the heel that he had offseason surgery on in Week 2. Rapoport’s wording seems to indicate that additional surgery has not yet been ruled out, but Pierce will attempt to rehab the issue in the interim. It’s a disaster of a scenario for a team that extended Pierce while allowing Michael Pittman to walk in the offseason. Josh Downs appears most likely to become the focal point of the offense through the air in Pierce’s absence after amassing seven catches on nine targets in the team’s overtime loss to the Chiefs. When, or if, Pierce returns to the active roster in 2026 remains to be seen.

X-rays came back negative last night but Pierce couldn’t put weight on it last night and left on crutches with a boot on. The fact that it was an aggravation is not promising. It sounds like Pierce could be looking at an extended absence. If true, Josh Downs will get some WR3 hype ahead of Week 3’s date against the Texans. If you were wondering why Laquon Treadwell was on the field deep in the game on Sunday night, Pierce’s injury is the reason.

Pierce evidently avoided suffering a fracture. He will undergo more testing tomorrow to determine the remaining specifics and the injury’s severity. Hopefully, the Colts’ field-stretching wide receiver is not sidelined for long, if at all. Pierce underwent surgery on his ankle/heel this offseason and spent almost the entire spring and summer rehabbing.

Pierce came up limping on a route on the final play of the first quarter and was escorted to the medical tent by the training staff. He appeared to be unable to put any weight on the injured leg. It’s obviously not what fantasy managers want to see after he missed most of the offseason program following surgery on the ankle and heel on the same leg in late March. He remained in the medical tent for about 10 minutes before being carted to the locker room. Pierce caught his lone target for 11 yards prior to departing.

Pierce’s Thursday absence appears to have been a rest day. The Colts reportedly plan to play Pierce more in Week 2 than they did in Week 1, when he played on 59 percent of the team’s snaps. He posted a 4/61 receiving line and can be viewed as a WR3/FLEX this week.

It looks like it’s just a routine day off, but we’ll check back on Friday. The Indianapolis Star reported that Pierce told reporters before the practice that the plan is “to put him on the field more in Kansas City” in Week 2 after he played just 59 percent of the team’s snaps.

This could just be a rest day, though those typically happen on Wednesday. Pierce has been working his way back from his offseason heel/ankle surgery, and he reportedly had his wrist X-rayed after the Colts’ Week 1 game against the Ravens. Hopefully, the beat reporters turn up something useful.

The Athletic’s James Boyd noted that Pierce also had his wrist X-rayed after the game, though neither that nor the heel injury is a concern for him going forward. Ashton Dulin missed practice with a hamstring injury. Pierce was targeted six times in Week 1 despite having his snaps limited. He caught four passes for 61 yards. He will be a boom/bust WR3 for his Week 3 matchup with Kansas City.

Pierce hauled in a 13-yard pass on the Colts’ opening drive but didn’t log his second reception of the game until the third quarter. The speedster, who has made a name for himself as a deep threat, saw just one pass of 20-plus air yards in Sunday’s loss, with all of his receptions coming in the intermediate part of the field. With the game nearly out of reach in the fourth quarter, Pierce caught passes of 14 and 23 yards to get the Colts into scoring range before Tyler Warren capped the drive with a nine-yard receiving touchdown. Pierce’s six targets tied Keenan Allen for the team lead on Sunday, but we’ll need to see more volume before we can confidently project him as anything more than a WR3 for next week’s game against the Chiefs.