Alec Pierce Carted Off, Ruled Out As Colts Lose Second Deep Threat vs. Chiefs

It started as just another incompletion. Then Mike Chappell noticed the limp.

Mike Chappell @mchappell51 · Alec Pierce limping after that incompletion

That limp turned into something much worse in a hurry. Pierce needed help getting into the medical tent, and the sideline scene made clear this wasn't a tweak he was going to jog off.

Mike Chappell @mchappell51 · Doesn't look good at all. Alec Pierce had to be helped into the blue tent.

The broadcast initially hedged, calling Pierce questionable to return with a heel injury. Chappell wasn't buying the optimism, and for good reason — Melissa Stark reported on air that Pierce wasn't putting weight on his foot at all as he hopped to the cart, which is not the kind of detail that precedes a triumphant halftime return.

Mike Garafolo @MikeGarafolo · #Colts WR Alec Pierce questionable to return with a heel injury, per @melissastark on the broadcast. Not putting weight on his foot as he hopped to the cart.

The injury is a brutal follow-up to an offseason Pierce spent trying to get right in the first place. He had surgery on that same left ankle before the season to fix a bone issue that had been causing him pain, and he'd been dealing with a heel injury on the practice report for two weeks leading into this game as the team tried to gradually build his workload back up. Sunday's play — planting his left leg on a route, pulling up, and hopping off unable to bear weight — landed on the exact spot the Colts had been nursing all camp.

Roughly 10 minutes of sideline evaluation later, the team made it official: Pierce was done for the day, sent back for X-rays. Chappell's follow-up cut straight to what it means for the offense — Indianapolis was now down both of its field-stretchers, since Ashton Dulin had already been ruled out pregame with a separate ankle injury of his own.

Mike Chappell @mchappell51 · Colts without two deep threats: Alec Pierce and Ashton Dulin

PFT and Rapoport both flagged it as a situation worth tracking in real time, and it's easy to see why — Pierce re-established himself as Indianapolis's premier deep threat after a strong 2025, and losing him for any real stretch strips the passing game of its vertical element right as the Colts try to hang with Kansas City on national television. Between the fresh heel injury and the recent ankle surgery on the same leg, there's real reason to think this keeps him out well past just Sunday night.