Can Alec Pierce And Josh Downs Both Be Factors In Fantasy Football?
Fantasy

Can Alec Pierce And Josh Downs Both Be Factors In Fantasy Football?

Ian Hartitz analyzes the WR room for the Indianapolis Colts, highlighting Alec Pierce and Josh Downs, and whether they can both be viable for fantasy football.

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We could be looking at addition by subtraction in the Indianapolis Colts WR room. Michael Pittman has left the building, now in Pittsburgh. That leaves the complementary duo of Alec Pierce and Josh Downs to possibly be the lead targets in Indy—we see you, Tyler Warren. Can they both be fantasy viable? Ian Hartitz breaks it down as part of his Indianapolis Colts Team Preview.

Are Alec Pierce and Josh Downs both great clicks at cost?

Pierce's field-stretching speed is a superpower that literally every offense in the NFL would love to have. This man constantly creates separation downfield and is good enough at the catch point to turn 50/50 situations into 70/30 propositions in his favor. Credit to Pierce for leading the NFL in yards per reception *and* yards per target in each of the past two seasons.

The question is can he be more? The Colts are certainly paying him to be, and the departure of Michael Pittman could lead to Pierce pushing for a new career-high mark in targets. Fantasy managers depending on Pierce will need this to be the case—his absurdly efficient 2024 (PPR WR49) and 2025 (WR24) didn't exactly lead to fantasy fireworks due to his lack of consistent volume. Also note that unlike pretty much everyone else in this offense, Pierce actually averaged more PPR points per game after Jones' injury (14.1) than before (11.5).

And then there's the newfound ankle issue. Pierce had ankle surgery in April and, per Stephen Holder, could be out "well into" training camp and past the preseason. Not exactly ideal—especially when finding out that Pierce tried to initially avoid surgery, but initial treatment attempts didn't fix the problem. Learned doctors aren't exactly feeling great about Pierce's early-season upside in 2026.

And then there's Downs, who more cleanly profiles as the main beneficiary of Pittman's departure. It's not a coincidence Downs racked up 19 targets in his only two career games with Pittman sidelined, and it'd also make sense if a less-mobile Daniel Jones is more willing to get the ball out quickly coming off the Achilles.

More Downs propaganda …

  • The shifty slot maven turns 25 in August.
  • The Indy coaches have been adamant that Downs is in store for a bigger role, including playing more on the outside than in past years.
  • The injury gods could maybe chill out for once—people forget Downs had annoying August ankle and hamstring injuries to deal with in each of the past two seasons
  • Nerdy separation metrics like Fantasy Points' Average Separation Score and ESPN's Open Rating both had Downs as a top-12 separator in 2025.

Anybody else sweating? THIS IS THE YEAR, BABY! Unless the Colts f*ck around and sign, say, Keenan Allen. That would not be great. In fact, I've committed to buying a Keenan Allen Chargers powder blue jersey off eBay if that happens.

Ultimately, the archetypes and injury concerns have me sitting as the lowest Fantasy Life ranker on Pierce (my WR46, consensus WR36) and the second highest on Downs (my WR39, consensus WR43). That said: Downs would take a noticeable dump down the ranks should Indy decide to sign a similar lower-aDOT option like Keenan or Deebo Samuel.

Also note: Nick Westbrook-Ikhine scored 9 touchdowns in 2024 and it's like none of you even care. Did he score zero in 15 games in 2025? Yes. Should we expect him to be fantasy relevant in 2026? No. Will I always remind people for the rest of my time on this planet that he scored 9 touchdowns in 2024? Yes … While NWI is considered the No. 3 wide receiver based on name value, some OTA reports are indicating Ashton Dulin might actually be the frontrunner. The longtime backup WR/special teamer possesses field-stretching ability (career average of 15.6 yards per reception), but honestly: The fact Dulin could be in line to start feels like more fuel to the fire that Indy isn't done adding pieces here. I would LOVE to see this team take a flier on someone like Kayshon Boutte or Rashod Bateman.

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Alec Pierce
    AlecPierceQ
    WRINDIND
    PPG
    10.7
    Proj
    156.6
  2. Josh Downs
    JoshDowns
    WRINDIND
    PPG
    6.7
    Proj
    149.9

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