During ‘Day 2’ of mandatory team veteran minicamp, Indianapolis Colts starting wide receiver Alec Pierce shared more specifics on his initial ankle injury, which following a late March minor cleanup surgery, has an expected 4-6 month timeline of recovery (via FOX59/CBS4’s Mike Chappell):
That means that it’s realistically possible that Pierce could miss at least a handful of
weeks of Colts training camp, when it kicks off next month in late July.
Per the IndyStar’s Nathan Brown, Pierce received a PRP injection following the end of the 2025 campaign, which was considered a potential ‘bandaid’ in the interim until a full determination could be made on whether his injured ankle would eventually heal itself on its own.
It admittedly did not after six-to-eight weeks of allotted recovery time, meaning minor cleanup surgery was then recommended by his doctors, which Pierce underwent earlier this offseason shortly thereafter.
Having signed a historic 4-year, $114 million contract (with $84 million guaranteed), it’s possible that the Colts blazing fast, elite downfield threat could have a slower start out of the gates to the 2026 regular season—as he works himself back into pristine physical football shape and coming off the minor ankle cleanup surgery.
That being said, this doesn’t appear to be a cause for long-term injury concern for Pierce. Rather, the Colts will just have to be fully patient with his ongoing ankle rehabilitation and recovery—even if it takes the entire 6 month timeline for him to actually be fully cleared to play football again.
It is a cause for concern though, at least in training camp and the early regular season, because the Colts already saw longtime veteran wideout Michael Pittman Jr. be traded to the Green Bay Packers earlier this offseason, so it’s a receiving corps that’s more depleted on the outside than it’s been in more recent seasons.
The Colts are now paying Pierce a lot of lucrative dollars, not to just be their lead wideout again, but an all-around, complete wideout to be one of their top offensive playmakers collectively. They’ll have to hope that he returns to the football field sooner rather than later.
