Feb. 7, 2026, 7:43 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
Free agent wide receiver Alec Pierce is a candidate to be franchise tagged this offseason by the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Teams can use the franchise tag once per offseason on a pending free agent to prevent them from hitting the open market.<\/p>\n If applied, a franchise tag is essentially a one-year deal. The contract amount is predetermined and takes into account which position the tagged player plays.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0Over the Cap<\/a>, “franchise tag figures are based upon the top five salaries at each respective position.”<\/p>\n Why would the Colts<\/a> franchise tag Alec Pierce?<\/p>\n The likely goal behind using the franchise tag on Pierce isn’t to have him play out the 2026 season on that contract.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n For one, from the sounds of it, GM Chris Ballard would like Pierce around<\/a> beyond just one more season.<\/p>\n But in addition to that, using the franchise tag isn’t very salary cap-friendly. Per OTC, the franchise tag for a wide receiver in 2026 is projected to be $28.82 million<\/a>, and since this is a one-year deal, that figure is what Pierce’s cap hit would be for this season as well.<\/p>\n So the reason that the Colts would tag Pierce would likely be similar to why they tagged Michael Pittman during the 2024 offseason.<\/p>\n Doing so would prevent Pierce from becoming a free agent and then buy him and the team more time to work out a long-term deal — which is how things played out with Pittman. An extension would then lower Pierce’s 2026 cap hit quite a bit versus playing out this season on the franchise tag.<\/p>\n