Feb. 17, 2026, 5:24 p.m. ET
Indianapolis Colts’ wide receiver is set to be a free agent and likely a highly coveted one at that.
Pierce recently spoke with SiriusXM NFL radio during Super Bowl week and briefly discussed his pending free agency.
“Good with where everything stands,” Pierce said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of good things in front of me, and we’ll see, this next month might be crazy, but we’ll see what ends up happening.”
Pierce is going to be in store for a big payday, whether that be from the Colts or another team.
This past season, he surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the first time and has led the league in yards per catch the last two seasons.
Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.
Pierce’s ability to win downfield is evident, but with that ability, he expanded his route tree this past season, impacting other levels of the field more often. That more well-rounded skill set is one of the reasons why he will be in high demand.
Pierce is a candidate to receive the franchise tag, but so is quarterback Daniel Jones. The purpose of tagging Pierce — or Jones — wouldn’t be to have him play out the 2026 season on that deal, but it would prevent him from hitting the open market once free agency begins, thus creating a longer runway for him and the Colts to negotiate a long-term contract.
We recently took a look at what Pierce’s next contract could look like.
Re-signing Pierce should be a priority for the Colts, and it sounds like that is the case.
“From Day 1, from when we worked him out at the University of Cincinnati, we had a great belief in Alec Pierce,” Ballard said. “I think he’s been a good player every year. … I thought Reggie (Wayne) did a tremendous job helping him expand his game to all three levels. Alec’s a priority.”