There is an update on Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason, who was injured in a sideline collision at the end of Indianapolis’ preseason matchup with New England.
Per Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star, Mason suffered multiple torn ligaments in his knee.
Head coach Shane Steichen said postgame that Mason’s right knee was being evaluated.
The Colts have not yet announced how the team will proceed or if Mason will be unavailable for any stretch of time.
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Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson was not satisfied with his own performance in Thursday night’s preseason opener.
Richardson started the game and completed 11 of 14 passes for 145 yards, with no touchdowns, one interception and one lost fumble, and he also ran six times for 53 yards and a touchdown. But afterward he said the turnovers overshadow the good he did.
“I don’t even think I played that well, honestly,” Richardson said. “Fumble, interception early. I’ve got to limit the turnovers. You can’t win games with multiple turnovers. So I don’t think I played that well today. It was decent, we moved the ball a little bit, but I think we can definitely improve.”
Colts head coach Shane Steichen was more charitable about Richardson’s performance.
“He did some good things. Obviously we were moving the ball efficiently. The turnovers hurt us, the fumble down there,” Steichen said. “It’s hard to maintain drives when you’re turning the ball over, but overall I think he did a lot of good things.”
When the Colts took Richardson with the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft. they thought he’d be doing a lot more than just competing for the No. 2 job as he heads into Year Four. But for where he is at this point, Steichen is pleased. Even if Richardson himself is not.
Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason was injured at the end of Thursday night’s preseason game.
Mason was standing on the sideline on the final play of the fourth quarter, when two players who were engaged with each other ran into him.
“He got rolled up right on the sideline that last play,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said afterward. “So we’ll see. He’s getting evaluated for his knee right now.”
The Colts-Patriots game ended in a 13-13 tie. The NFL does not play overtime in the preseason.
As Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson prepares for his fourth season, he’s fighting to avoid falling to third on the Indy depth chart behind Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard.
Richardson generated solid numbers in the first half of Thursday’s preseason opener against the Patriots.
It didn’t start smoothly. On the fifth play of the Colts’ opening drive of the night, Richardson threw an interception.
In fairness to Richardson, it wasn’t really his fault. The ball came out of the hands of receiver Coleman Owen before being caught by Patriots cornerback Kindle Vildor.
Richardson also lost a fumble, which was his fault.
For the first half, Richardson completed 11 of 14 passes for 145 yards. He rushed six times for 53 yards and a touchdown.
A trade remains possible. It all comes down to whether he shows enough in the preseason to get someone to bite. He could do enough to earn the No. 2 job in what would be his fourth season in Indianapolis.
Quarterback Anthony Richardson may not know what’s going on with his trade request, but he may be able to entice a team to acquire his services soon.
Via James Boyd of TheAthletic.com, Colts head coach Shane Steichen said after Tuesday’s joint practice with the Patriots that Richardson will start Thursday’s preseason matchup with the Patriots.
The plan is for Richardson to play the first half of the contest and for Leonard to play the second half.
The two quarterbacks will then flip that plan for Indianapolis’ second preseason game against Atlanta, with Leonard starting and playing the first half while Richardson plays the second.
Coming off a torn Achilles tendon, Daniel Jones will not play in the preseason.
Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick of the 2023 draft, requested a trade earlier this offseason after the Colts signed Daniel Jones to a new deal. To this point, it has not appeared there is much of a market for his services.
In his 17 career games with 15 starts, Richardson has completed 50.6 percent of his passes for 2,400 yards with 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He’s rushed for 634 yards with 10 TDs.
Colts General Manager Chris Ballard said on Tuesday that receiver Alec Pierce did not, in fact, have a second platelet-rich plasma injection to speed up the healing of his ankle, according to multiple reporters.
Nathan Brown of the Indianapolis Star, who reported the injection took place, noted on Tuesday morning that his source had misspoken.
“I just want to clear up the confusion on Alec and give you all the timeline,” Ballard said, via James Boyd of TheAthletic.com. “So, Alec had PRP at the end [of the season] in January, trying to clear up some of the soreness, which is normal.”
Pierce then underwent surgery in March, but, Ballard added there was “no second injection.”
The current plan remains for Pierce to be available at the start of the regular season.
The Colts are having a joint practice with the Patriots on Tuesday in Foxborough. Multiple reporters noted Pierce is in attendance, working with a trainer on the side.
Pierce signed a four-year, $114 million deal to remain with the Colts in March. He caught 47 passes for 1,003 yards with six touchdowns in 2025.
The Patriots have been scrambling to remove their post-World Cup turf field and to replace it with a new one. Given the ongoing real grass vs. fake grass debate, the notion that a team had to quickly remove and replace a “noncompliant” artificial surface seems like a fairly big deal.
Here’s what happened.
The Patriots (and the Revolution of the MLS) decided to switch from FieldTurf to Hellas as the provider of the playing surface at Gillette Stadium after the World Cup.
As FieldTurf describes the situation, the Hellas field was not an NFL-approved product. And it wasn’t, given the absence of the shock-absorbing “e-layer,” which is shorthand for “elastic layer.” After the Revolution games played on the surface since the World Cup, the Hellas surface had to go — and it was replaced by a FieldTurf product that complies with the NFL and NFL Players Association standards.
The process of removing the Hellas field began on Sunday, the day after the most recent Revolution game. FieldTurf will get the field installed by Thursday, when the Patriots host the Colts in their mutual preseason opener.
And so FieldTurf is doing a victory lap regarding the fact that a competitor failed to deliver an NFL-compliant product. FieldTurf is also sensitive to the reality that their brand has in some circles become synonymous with artificial playing surfaces generally; obviously, they don’t want the general public to think that the fake-grass fiasco was a FieldTurf fudge-up.
The problem, we’re told, was that Hellas made an executive decision to install its product without the e-layer. Hellas believed that, given the surface below the turf, the installation of an e-layer would have made the field too springy. The problem is that the e-layer is a non-negotiable requirement for artificial turf NFL fields.
The Patriots realized while the Hellas field was being installed that there was no E-layer, and that the NFL wouldn’t give them a dispensation on that requirement. They used the Hellas field for the three games played there by the Revolution after the World Cup, with a plan to rip out the Hellas field as of Sunday and to reinstall a FieldTurf surface before football season starts.
For these reasons, it’s unlikely that the new field will fail to secure the appropriate approvals to proceed with a preseason game on Thursday night. And the folks at Hellas have learned an important lesson when it comes to installing NFL fields: The E-layer is mandatory, regardless of whether it’s subjectively believed to be not necessary.
Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce has not seen the practice field in 2026.
He underwent what the Colts originally called a “clean-up” surgery on his left ankle in late March. Pierce had hoped to avoid surgery by taking a platelet-rich plasma injection after the 2025 season.
He was given a 4-6-month recovery timeline, putting the start of the season in doubt.
Nathan Brown of the Indianapolis Star reports that Pierce underwent a second PRP injection since then to help with lingering soreness and speed up healing. The injection was not due to a setback in his rehab, Brown adds.
It is unclear, though, when Pierce might return as the team has offered no timeline.
Pierce remains on the active/physically unable to perform list.
The Colts’ first depth chart of the 2026 preseason doesn’t provide any hint to how the team’s backup quarterback competition will play out.
Riley Leonard and Anthony Richardson are both listed in that slot behind Daniel Jones on the depth chart that was released on Monday. Head coach Shane Steichen said that both quarterbacks will play against New England in Thursday’s preseason opener — Jones will not play — but he has not said who will be the first one to take snaps.
The Colts will have a joint practice against the Patriots on Tuesday, so this week’s work could help create some separation between the two quarterbacks.
Colts General Manager Chris Ballard said that his intent is to keep Jones, Leonard, and Richardson into the regular season. Plans could change based on how everyone fares in the preseason or if an injury somewhere else leads to someone making him an offer he can’t refuse.
Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson was fighting for a starting job at this time last year and he’s in another competition as the team heads into its first preseason game of this summer.
Richardson is vying for the backup job behind Daniel Jones with Riley Leonard and both quarterbacks will get a chance to play against the Patriots this Thursday. The team has not said which of them will start that game and the battle is playing out against the backdrop of Richardson’s trade request this offseason.
General Manager Chris Ballard said at the start of camp that the team doesn’t intend to trade Richardson and Richardson said Sunday that he has not checked in on where things stand trade-wise in some time.
“I haven’t really even talked to my agent about that recently,” Richardson said, via James Boyd of TheAthletic.com. “I haven’t talked to Ballard or anybody about that recently. I’m not necessarily sure what’s going on. But I’m just here right now, trying to make sure I can stamp my foot on this team and be the best version of myself I can be for the team.”
Richardson also shared his feelings about potentially remaining in Indianapolis as the third quarterback should head coach Shane Steichen opt for Leonard in the No. 2 spot.
“If that’s what the team wants, that’s what I want,” Richardson said. “I just want go be able to help a team. If it’s this team, then I thank God for it. I’m just ready to showcase what I can do and be a winning piece to help the team win.”
There was no sign of trade interest in Richardson during the offseason and this summer hasn’t been any different. An injury elsewhere could change that, but Richardson’s future in Indianapolis or anywhere else will look a bit brighter if he can put together a strong body of preseason work that reminds people why he was a coveted prospect ahead of the 2023 draft.
