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.
Colts Clips
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.
The Colts signed free agent wide receiver D.J. Montgomery on Sunday, the team announced.
Montgomery spent last season on the Colts’ injured reserve list.
He has played 10 career games and has made six receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown. Montgomery also has totaled one special teams tackle.
He has spent time with the Colts (2022-25), Texans (2022), Jets (2020-22) and Browns (2019-20).
In a corresponding move, the Colts waived wide receiver Liam Clifford.
Clifford signed with the team as an undrafted free agent on July 30. In college, he played 52 career games with 15 starts at Penn State (2021-25) and made 42 receptions for 530 yards and one touchdown. Clifford also registered three carries for 16 yards and scored one touchdown on a blocked punt.
There is some positive news on the injury front for the Colts.
Via Stephen Holder of ESPN, head coach Shane Steichen told reporters on Sunday that receiver Josh Downs’ groin injury is not considered serious and Downs should return to the field soon.
Downs could even potentially be on the field for the Colts’ joint practice with the Patriots on Tuesday.
Downs is a critical piece for Indianapolis’ starting offense, particularly as Alec Pierce continues to recover from offseason ankle surgery.
In 2025, Downs caught 58 passes for 566 yards with four touchdowns in 16 games. He is entering the final year of his rookie contract after the Colts selected him in the third round of the 2023 draft.
After the final World Cup game at Gillette Stadium, out went the FIFA-mandated grass and in came an artificial turf field.
Now, the artificial turf field will be hastily replaced with a different one.
Via Mike Reiss of ESPN, the NFL and NFL Players Association independent laboratory testing protocol determined that the first artificial surface was “noncompliant.”
Patriots chief operating officer Jim Nolan explained the situation to Reiss but, frankly, Nolan’s quotes are sort of confusing and subtly oozing with spin. The bottom line is that the first field wasn’t good enough, forcing the Patriots to rip it out and try again. Quickly.
“The field we’re installing is the latest version of the field we took out in January,” Nolan told Reiss. “From a player perspective, it will be incredibly consistent with what they played on last year.”
It’s unclear why that field wasn’t reinstalled in the first place.
The new field is being installed this week. And the clock is ticking. The Patriots host the Colts to open the 2026 preseason on Thursday night.
What if the new field doesn’t pass muster? It wouldn’t be the first time a preseason game was scrapped.
Ten years ago, the Hall of Fame Game between the Colts and Packers didn’t happen due to paint that had become “congealed and rubberized.” (The debacle, which sparked litigation from those who bought tickets and in many cases traveled to Canton, caused the NFL to move the game from after the enshrinement ceremony to before it.) Twenty-five years ago, a Ravens-Eagles game at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia was cancelled due to “uneven cutouts” in the playing surface that, at the time, was used for both football and baseball.
The rush to install another new field seems like a fairly big deal, something that merits more attention from ESPN than the second item in Reiss’s weekly news and notes column. But, hey, that’s what can happen when the NFL owns 10 percent of the media outlet making the editorial decisions.
The Colts have not had Alec Pierce on the practice field at all this summer and they were missing another wideout at practice on Saturday.
Josh Downs did not take part in the session and the Colts said that he is dealing with a groin injury. They did not offer further information about the extent of the injury or how long Downs might be out of action.
Pierce is on the physically unable to perform list after having ankle surgery this offseason and head coach Shane Steichen said earlier this week that there’s no timetable for his return.
Ashton Dulin, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, and Anthony Gould worked as the first team wideouts for the Colts on Saturday.
The fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft is in danger of landing third on the Indianapolis depth chart.
Although the widespread social-media buzz that quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr. already has been demoted to No. 3 behind Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard may be premature, at a minimum he’s still competing with Leonard for the QB2 slot.
An offseason effort by Richardson and the Colts to find a trade partner went nowhere. With his 2026 compensation ($5.385 million) fully guaranteed, the Colts have no reason to cut him, since they’ll still be paying him. (At most, they’d save $1.145 million if/when he signs elsewhere for the fourth-year minimum salary.)
Even if there’s no trade to be done for now, one injury elsewhere could be the spark. Likewise, an injury to Jones or Leonard would elevate his importance to the Colts.
That’s why the Colts intend to keep all three into the regular season. With the trade deadline landing the Tuesday after Week 9, there’s still a chance that the Colts could get something of value in return for what has been a failed first-round pick.
Richardson entered the NFL as a highly-talented prospect with limited college reps. In three seasons, he has 16 regular-season appearances with 14 starts.
The preseason looms large for Richardson. If he performs well, that could generate interest in a trade. At a minimum, it could move him higher on the list of available options if/when a team loses its starter or backup due to injury.
For now, the point is this — one year after Richardson lost the starting job in camp to Jones, Richardson could be losing the backup job to Leonard, whose chance to replace Jones as the starter in December was short-circuited by the unretirement of Philip Rivers.
Despite his success, Adam Vinatieri was uncertain whether it was enough to get him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Kickers don’t always get their due, and if they do, it’s usually a long wait.
In his second year of eligibility, though, Vinatieri earned his day in the sun.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, joining Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen as the only pure kickers with busts in Canton.
“So here I stand at the top of the mountain. The pinnacle of greatness. The highest achievement in my professional career. I can officially say my biggest dream has come true,” Vinatieri said. “As I look out into this crowd, I don’t just see Hall of Famers, teammates, coaches, friends, and family. I see every person who believed in me, challenged me, sacrificed for me, and played a role in turning my childhood dream into this unforgettable moment.
“This honor is one that I accept with tremendous gratitude and humility, because I know no one reaches this stage alone. Today is not just about me. Today is about family. It’s about teammates. It’s about coaches. It’s about organizations that believed in me. And it’s about every person who played a role in this incredible journey.”
Vinatieri, 53, played 24 seasons, 10 with the Patriots (1996-2005) and 14 with the Colts (2006-19). He became the NFL’s all-time leading scorer with 2,673 points and has the most regular-season field goals with 599. He connected on an NFL-record 44 consecutive field goals between the 2015 and 2016 seasons with the Colts, and no player had more seasons with 100 or more points scored than Vinatieri (21).
He earned his reputation as the NFL’s greatest clutch kicker in the postseason, which included connecting on last-second game-winning field goals to clinch Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XXXVIII. in the 2006 playoffs, Vinatieri made 14 field goals as the Colts earned their first Indianapolis-era Lombardi Trophy.
Vinatieri had a long list of those he thanked in a humorous speech that included jokes aimed at Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Pat McAfee, Peyton Manning and Andersen.
Vinatieri’s speech, though, centered around “a kid from South Dakota who never gave up on his dreams,” and he ended his almost 19-minute speech with a love letter to football.
“Football, it would have been so easy to forget to tell you just how much you mean to me. If you were sitting here in this crowd today, this is what I would say,” Vinatieri said. “I loved you with everything I had. There was a time when I thought I wanted you more than air, but I was wrong. You were the air. You gave me purpose. You gave me direction. You gave me a life I could have never imagined.
“The beautiful thing about our relationship was that the more I gave to you, the more you gave back to me. The more I devoted myself to you, the more you rewarded me. The more I committed to you, the more you committed to me. I tried to honor you every single day because I knew you deserved nothing less than my very best.
“I gave you 38 years of my life, and in return, you gave me a lifetime of memories. I gave you points; you gave me friendships. I gave you countless hours of work; you gave me the opportunity to travel the world, experience different cultures and meet extraordinary people. Every sacrifice became an investment, and somehow football, you always gave me back more than I put in.
“Looking back, I realize I was never just playing football. We were building a life together. You challenged me, humbled me, disciplined me and ultimately shaped the man I became. Now, it feels like a parent letting go of a grown child. You raised me, prepared me and believed in me, and now you’re telling me it’s time for the next chapter.
“For so many years, football, you were the mountain I chose to climb. Today, standing at the summit, I finally understand what the climb was really about. It was never just reaching the top. It was the view you gave me along the way — the people I love, the family I cherish, the friendships I’ve made, and a life richer than I ever dreamed possible.
“So thank you, football. I gave you everything I had, and somehow, you gave me even more in return. Thank you for the life you gave me. I hope I honored you as much as you honored me.”
The Colts won’t be able to put cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt in the lineup for their season opener against the Ravens.
The NFL announced on Friday that Taylor-Britt has been suspended one game. The suspension is for violating the league’s Personal Conduct Policy.
Taylor-Britt pleaded guilty to reckless driving and driving without a valid license in January to resolve charges from a pair of 2025 traffic stops. He was sentenced to five days in jail as a result.
Both of those traffic stops took place while Taylor-Britt was playing for the Bengals. He signed with the Colts as a free agent this offseason.
Taylor-Britt will not be with the team for the first week of the regular season, but can practice this summer and play in the team’s preseason games.
