Indianapolis

Colts

The seven-year veteran was released by the Giants prior to the start of the regular season, now landing on his feet in Indianapolis to presumably fill in for the injured Alec Pierce. Pierce recently re-injured the heel he had offseason surgery on and will miss an undetermined number of games. Slayton brings a similar, field-stretching archetype to a Colts team in desperate need of someone to elongate the middle of the field. It remains most likely that Josh Downs steps into the featured role through the air.

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.

The most notable aspect to come from Allen’s modest performance was the fact that he really didn’t see an increase in emphasis in the offense following the departure of Alec Pierce at the end of the first quarter. Pierce’s initial X-rays came back negative on the same heel he had surgery on this offseason, but will get further testing Monday to diagnose the severity of the injury. Either way, Allen can safely be returned to the waiver wire in most fantasy formats.

The seven targets and a score look nice in the box scores, but it is hard to overlook just how reliant Warren is on screens and leak concepts in this offense, almost all of which are built behind play action. That’s good news for fantasy managers when the ground game is cooking, as it was against the Chiefs, but we’ve also seen how ineffective it can be when the Colts aren’t able to control games as they did to start the 2025 season. Losers of nine straight games dating back to last season, Warren could struggle to return enough yardage to truly emerge as a locked-in TE1 until this team starts winning some games. His performance against the Chiefs now marks consecutive games with 21 yards or fewer, although a touchdown in each contest has kept his fantasy value afloat. He’ll be a difficult start against the lockdown Houston defense in Week 3.

Downs operated as the unquestioned top dog through the air following the first quarter departure of Alec Pierce, the latter of whom left with a heel injury on the same foot as his offseason surgery. That setup appears likely to continue should Pierce miss time, although the short-area nature of Downs’ role all but requires significant volume to return scores beyond WR3 production. Even so, Downs should mostly avoid the lockdown perimeter corners of the Texans in Week 3, where he will be an upside WR3 in fantasy circles.

Taylor’s one-cut rushing ability was on full display against the Chiefs while gashing Kansas City’s defense on outside zone runs. Both of his touchdown scampers came on such carries, the second of which knotted the game at 27 to eventually force overtime. Unfortunately for Taylor and the Colts, the two carries that mattered the most were stuffed for a combined negative-three yards following a 48-yard Laquon Treadwell reception in overtime, eventually forcing the Colts to kick a game-tying field goal. Patrick Mahomes would send Indianapolis to an 0-2 record on the following possession. Taylor gets a difficult matchup against one of the top defenses in the league in Week 3, but he will remain a locked-in RB1 against the Texans.

Jones lost one of his top receivers at the end of the first quarter when Alec Pierce departed with a heel injury. He was largely unable to attack downfield following Pierce’s departure. That would all change on the team’s lone possession of overtime when Jones hit Laquon Treadwell for a 48-yard shot on the first play following a Chiefs field goal, but the team would be unable to punch their ticket to a win while settling for a field goal of their own. The team could be forced to play possession ball moving forward considering the short-area nature of the remaining pass-catchers, pending the status of Pierce. That spells trouble against the vaunted Houston defense in Week 3, where Jones will be a fringe QB2 while potentially down his field-stretching option.

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.