Feb. 20, 2026, 11:07 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
What teams could be potential landing spots for Indianapolis Colts’<\/a> free agent wide receiver Alec Pierce?<\/p>\n Several NFL analysts have weighed in.<\/p>\n Now, the Colts<\/a> shouldn’t let Pierce end up elsewhere. He’s an ascending player who brings a hard-to-find skill set to the offense, and he is coming off a career season.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Pierce is a\u00a0candidate to receive the franchise tag<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n Pierce has set himself up to earn a big payday<\/a> this offseason.<\/p>\n Potential landing spots for Colts’ free agent WR Alec Pierce<\/p>\n USA Today: Raiders<\/p>\n They said it: “The Raiders must supply presumptive No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza with more weapons. Pierce\u2019s ability to stretch the field would help open the middle of the field up for tight end Brock Bowers, and he\u2019s a capable blocker which will aid RB Ashton Jeanty.” – Tyler Dragon<\/a><\/p>\n ESPN: Titans<\/a><\/p>\n They said it: “With the Titans in position to be active in free agency, I like Pierce in Tennessee under new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. Pierce has the vertical stretch ability to produce down the field and can play a volume role as a multilevel target for quarterback\u00a0Cam Ward<\/a>.” – Matt Bowen<\/a><\/p>\n Pro Football Network: Patriots<\/p>\n They said it: “Adding\u00a0Pierce would immediately boost<\/a>\u00a0New England\u2019s vertical passing attack. Pairing that explosiveness with Maye\u2019s arm talent could take the Patriots\u2019 offense to another level and make them an even more dangerous contender.” – PFN<\/a><\/p>\n Pro Football Focus: Titans<\/p>\n They said it: “With Brian Daboll serving as the Titans\u2019 new offensive coordinator, the fit for Pierce is strong. Prior to being relieved of his duties as the Giants’ head coach following Week 10, Daboll helped New York lead the NFL in percentage of passes targeted 20-plus yards downfield. Pierce is a threat to take the top off any defense, having tied for the third-most deep receptions (24) over the past two seasons.” – Mason Cameron<\/a><\/p>\n FOX Sports: Bills<\/p>\n They said it: “The Colts have a handful of top free agents and won’t be able to keep them all. Pierce is likely to command $20 million a year as an underrated player who could be utilized more \u2014\u00a0Ja’Marr Chase<\/a>\u00a0had 101 more targets in 2025 than Pierce did, but only 409 more yards than the Colts wide receiver.” – Greg Auman<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 20, 2026, 11:07 a.m. ET What teams could be potential landing spots for Indianapolis Colts’ free agent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,49915,95900,96014,95882,96015,95892,95903,95896,95888,95895,95899,95883,95889,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-766526","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-tagdaniel-jones","20":"tag-tagespn-inc","21":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnfl","24":"tag-tagnfl-hub","25":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-tagtennessee-titans","28":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766526","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=766526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}