Jan. 29, 2026, 10:00 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
One NFL analyst believes that an AFC foe would be a good fit for the\u00a0Indianapolis Colts<\/a>\u00a0free agent wide receiver Alec Pierce.<\/p>\n Bradley Locker of\u00a0Pro Football Focus<\/a>\u00a0recently selected one free agent that each NFL team should pursue. For the\u00a0Colts<\/a>, it was the top free agent pass rusher on the market.<\/p>\n When it came to Pierce, Locker believes that the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>\u00a0should try to sign the Colts’ wide receiver.<\/p>\n “While the Raiders\u2019 2025 season was a disaster, the silver lining is the assortment of assets that the team\u2019s brain trust wields going into 2026 \u2014 including the No. 1 overall pick and the second-most cap space,” Locker wrote. “Las Vegas needs to land impact free agents on both sides of the ball, and Pierce would more than qualify.”<\/p>\n For the second year in a row, Pierce led the NFL in yards per catch, and for the first time in his career, he eclipsed the 1,000-yard receiving mark.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n However, while Pierce’s big play abilities garner the attention, as Ballard mentions, he’s done an excellent job of expanding his game, allowing him to better attack each level of the field. And with that, his role within the\u00a0Colts<\/a>‘ offense has grown.<\/p>\n Beyond the production, the vertical threat that Pierce brings to the Colts’ offense draws attention, which opens up opportunities for others. He’s also been a go-to target in some key moments in games.<\/p>\n Pierce has earned himself a good-sized payday this offseason, but Colts’ GM Chris Ballard has to prioritize bringing him back.<\/p>\n From a\u00a0salary cap standpoint<\/a>, Ballard believes that the Colts will\u00a0“be in good shape”<\/a>\u00a0this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 29, 2026, 10:00 a.m. ET One NFL analyst believes that an AFC foe would be a good…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,49915,95900,96014,95882,95887,95903,95885,95896,95888,95895,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-718762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-colts","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflcolts","16":"tag-sstsncolts","17":"tag-tagalec-pierce","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagamerican-football-conference","20":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","21":"tag-taglas-vegas-raiders","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnfl","24":"tag-tagnfl-hub","25":"tag-tagoverall-positive","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115989035338601751","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}