The Colts are 15 days from kickoff and their $116 million receiver still hasn't practiced. That's the backdrop for the latest update on Alec Pierce's ankle, which finally has a hopeful timeline attached to it after a summer of silence.
Colts WR Alec Pierce is expected to return to practice this week if “all goes to plan”, per @HolderStephen
Pierce signed a 4-year, $116 million deal with Indianapolis this offseason, making him the highest-paid free agent receiver in NFL history at the time, before undergoing a cleanup procedure on his ankle/heel that put him on the PUP list for the entire summer. He spent training camp and the preseason sidelined while the Colts and coach Shane Steichen insisted the recovery was on schedule. Per Stephen Holder, Steichen now says Pierce is expected back at practice this week 'if all goes to plan' — the first real sign that the four-to-six month rehab window is closing on time.
Naturally, fantasy Twitter did not take the news at face value. Within hours, clips of Pierce moving around started circulating, and the reaction was equal parts hope and side-eye.
Can’t wait for people to tell me Alec Pierce is walking normally
That's the joke Hayden Winks was riffing on too — the wink-wink insistence that everything about Pierce's movement is completely, definitely, normal.
definitely a normal walk. do not question that this is the normalest walk of the day.
It's the kind of skepticism that comes standard with any late-summer injury update on a player who set career highs in 2025 — 84 targets, 47 catches, 1,003 yards, and a league-leading 21.3 yards per catch for the second straight year. Pierce is one of the few receivers ever to pair 6-plus touchdowns with a 20-plus yard-per-catch average in back-to-back seasons, joining Hall of Famer James Lofton's 1983-84 stretch. That's exactly why the Colts backed up the truck for him this offseason, and exactly why an ankle that hasn't cleared practice with Week 1 bearing down is making fantasy managers sweat.
Surely there’s no reason to panic about Alec Pierce’s ankle 15 days before the season starts 😬
For now, 'expected to return to practice this week' is not the same as 'cleared for Week 1,' and the Colts haven't said otherwise. Until Pierce actually logs a full practice — and does it more than once — the ankle watch isn't going anywhere, and neither is the skepticism.