Colts share good news on WR Alec Pierce's ankle injury

INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts should have every key piece of their offense ready for Sunday's season opener against Baltimore. Indianapolis expects wide receiver Alec Pierce to play, Colts head coach Shane Steichen said Monday, despite Pierce missing most of training camp due to his recovery from offseason ankle surgery. Pierce returned quickly to full-team work with the team. Indianapolis activated Pierce on Aug. 27, two days before the team's final preseason, and over the course of a week, he progressed from doing only positional drills in practice to playing with the full offense. 'He should be good,' Steichen said. 'We'll get him some reps in practice this week, just like he took reps last week, and he's feeling really good.' Pierce's ultimate goal has always been to be ready for the season opener. Unable to ignore a nagging issue in his ankle throughout a 47-catch, 1,003-yard campaign, Pierce initially tried to treat his left ankle with a platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, injection, that was administered the day after the 2025 season ended. When the ankle was still giving Pierce problems two months later, he underwent surgery at the end of March to clear up an issue with the bone, knowing that the surgery carried a recovery timeline of four to six months. A four-month recovery would have put Pierce available for the start of training camp, and although Colts general manager Chris Ballard initially said Pierce would only miss one to two weeks at the start of camp, the team's desire to make sure Pierce returned at 100% kept him out of action until the end of the preseason. 'Week 1 is the goal, and mentally, it is tough,' Pierce said after he returned to the practice field. 'You've just got to find ways to try and stay in it, because you're going to be in those meetings and stuff.' Indianapolis badly needs Pierce available for Sunday's season opener. Pierce has developed into arguably the NFL's best deep threat, the kind of weapon who forces secondaries to play back, opening up room underneath for the rest of the team's pass-catching weapons. By getting Pierce back into practice, it sounds like the Colts are confident he'll be able to play his usual role against the Ravens. 'Working out the kinks last week, getting him back in, throwing him routes on the side as well, not in team drills, but them just throwing on the side, getting those reps in practice will be big,' Steichen said. 'Those guys had a good connection last year, and I think both of those guys are veterans that know each other really well.'