Colts need to learn from a past mistake and take care of one of their current young players before the season
The Indianapolis Colts cost themselves a lot of money waiting to extend Alec Pierce till after his career year. They need to learn from that mistake and extend Josh Downs as soon as possible.
The Indianapolis Colts have checked off free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft. Now they move into offseason programming. There will be a lot of eyes on multiple members of the roster. One I think everyone should be watching closely is wide receiver Josh Downs.
Downs is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He is also going to have the largest role of his career. Before he even plays a down of regular-season football, I think the Colts need to extend the talented receiver. A recent mistake by the team makes me think this even more.
Colts wide receiver Josh Downs’ career stats
Extending Downs now could save the Colts a lot of money on his next contract. They saw that firsthand when they waited too long to pay Alec Pierce.
- 2023: 68 receptions, 98 targets, 771 yards, 2 touchdowns
- 2024: 72 receptions, 107 targets, 803 yards, 5 touchdowns
- 2025: 58 receptions, 88 targets, 566 yards, 4 touchdowns
Colts should pay Josh Downs now instead of waiting till after the season
Downs saw his production totals dip in 2025. A major reason for this was the emergence of Pierce as the team’s top wide receiver. The team traded Michael Pittman Jr. this offseason. That opens the door for Downs to play outside during two-wide receiver sets.
That could lead to career highs across the board, and if that happens, the price tag to extend him will skyrocket. A receiver that recently got paid is Jayden Reed of the Green Bay Packers. He landed a three-year, $45-million contract this offseason.
Comparing Josh Downs and Jayden Reed’s career stats
Both players were drafted in 2023 and have had pretty similar careers to date. So, I think it would be safe for Downs’ team to treat that contract as an estimate of how much they’d like to net on a deal right now.
- Josh Downs: 3 years, 47 games, 293 targets, 198 receptions, 2,140 yards, 11 touchdowns, 106 first downs, 45.5 yards per game
- Jayden Reed: 3 years, 40 games, 191 targets, 138 receptions, 1,857 yards, 15 touchdowns, 72 first downs, 46.4 yards per game
Waiting to pay Alec Pierce cost the Colts a ton of money
Pierce ended up getting the second-largest free agency contract of any player this offseason. He signed a four-year, $114 million contract to remain with the Colts. If they had locked him up this time last year, though, his contract total would not have come close to the $28.5 million annually he got after the best year of his career.
To estimate, he would probably have landed a contract in the $14-16 million-a-year range. Pierce and his team obviously are glad the Colts elected not to entertain extension talks last offseason. But the Colts have to be kicking themselves for not being more proactive.
They now have the chance to right that wrong and learn from that past mistake. Pay Downs now because if he puts together a career year, he could easily cross the $20 million a year range. If that happens, it’ll make the team’s roster-building more difficult in the future.
