WESTFIELD, Ind. – This is nothing new for Alec Pierce. He's speeding to his routes, making contested one-on-one catches, constantly seeking out advice from Reggie Wayne and taking things one day at a time.
It's nothing new for his teammates and coaches, who have seen the potential in the wide receiver since his college days. It's nothing new for Colts fans, either, after Pierce's performance in 2024 where he led the league in yards per catch (22.3) and recorded 824 yards and seven touchdowns with just 37 receptions.
So, Pierce's success in the first four days of training camp is no surprise to anyone. The conversation has now shifted from "how can Pierce earn a starting job?" to "how can Pierce continue to elevate his game?"
And to that, the answer is simple: just keep going.
"Alec can do anything," wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said Saturday. "It's just his opportunity's been deep stuff, and maybe we'll see some more intermediate, shallow stuff to add in...Alec is a guy where he gets 33 catches and has almost 1000 yards. That's, like, unheard of. So I mean, if he could do that, imagine if we gave him 40 catches, 50 catches."
"I would love to get him on intermediate stuff, you know, because he's got more than deep ball threat in his arsenal," Wayne said. "That's stuff that we all working on. He's capable of doing all that stuff."
Most of Pierce's catches and routes so far in camp have been on short and intermediate routes; deep downfield passes have been very limited. With those opportunities, Pierce has shown his potential as more than just a deep threat. Now, the biggest thing he's working on is fine-tuning everything.
"We've kind of been getting into more fine detail about running and stuff like that," Pierce said about the advice he's getting from Wayne. "I think that it's that time for me, you know, being in year four. I know the play, I know where to line up, I kind of know the stuff. So now it's like, I gotta just really get into just fine details, and that's not gonna be too much for me to handle if he tells me 'Hey, I want you to change this one thing up here' and 'Try this to see how it works.'"
One year ago, Pierce was just beginning to make waves in his third training camp, with deep, contested catches foreshadowing what he was about to do in the regular season. There's no reason to believe this year, given what Pierce has shown in the first few practices, will be any different.
News and Notes from Saturday's practice:
- Cornerback Kenny Moore II had a sore knee, Steichen said, and got a rest day. He did not participate in practice but Steichen expects him back next week.
- Wide receiver Alec Pierce caught a handful of passes from quarterbacks Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones in various 11-on-11 periods, including a running grab reminiscent of Pierce's touchdown against the New England Patriots in Week 13 last season.
- Safety Cam Bynum broke up a pass from Jones to Pierce in 11-on-11.
- Safety Nick Cross broke up a pass intended for tight end Tyler Warren in one-on-one drills. Warren then beat out Cross to make a running catch later in the period.
- Cornerback Charvarius Ward intercepted a pass in one-on-ones, and cornerbacks Justin Walley and Jaylon Jones forced incompletions in CB vs. WR drills as well.
- Also during one-on-one drills, tight end Jelani Woods navigated around sticky coverage from safety Hunter Wohler to snag the football. Linebacker Jaylon Carlies also broke up a pass intended for running back Jonathan Taylor.
- Linebacker Cameron McGrone broke up two passes from Richardson, one in an 11-on-11 period and one in seven-on-seven.
- In a full field period, Richardson found tight end Mo Alie-Cox with a perfectly placed ball in triple coverage.
- The Colts will have a day off on Sunday before practicing at 10 a.m. on Monday in the first padded practice of training camp.
