According to Essentially Sports’ NFL Draft Analyst Tony Pauline, the New England Patriots are expected to shortly be in strong pursuit of pending Indianapolis Colts free agent wideout Alec Pierce:
“I reported just before the Combine that the Las Vegas Raiders and Tennessee Titans are two teams ready to make a bid for Pierce,” writes Pauline. “In the past few hours, I also learned the New England Patriots are hot for Pierce and are expected to make a big push for the wideout. This makes sense as just yesterday the team cut Stefon Diggs and, as stated above, they’ve displayed little interest in Mike Evans.”
As Pauline notes, the tea leaves are clearly pointing toward the reigning AFC Champions making a strong push for Pierce in the initial wave of free agency, as the Patriots released former veteran All-Pro wideout Stefon Diggs to free up available team salary cap space and a starting wideout spot earlier this Thursday.
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If the money’s close, it’s hard to blame a young wideout for wanting to catch footballs for the foreseeable future from Drake Maye over maybe Daniel Jones though. That goes for other teams’ quarterback upgrades as well.
Of course, the Colts had to reasonably expect this, right?
If the Colts used their tag, which Indianapolis elected to place the transition tag on looming free agent starting quarterback Daniel Jones instead, they had to know that an untagged Pierce would draw a number of interested suitors, right? With no added protection or deterrence to outside competition to aid the Colts’ in ongoing negotiations? It’s put up or shut up time!
By all indications, this close to almost hitting the open market, Pierce admittedly plans to test the waters—entertaining all offers, including from Indianapolis and elsewhere. While the Colts still have some time to reach a deal, it’s hard to see Pierce inking a contract extension ahead of time, unless Indianapolis dramatically overpays him—and maybe even locks up Jones long-term ahead of time.
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That would run counterintuitive to the Colts offering Jones the transition tag instead of the franchise tag (i.e., saving money), and really, it makes you wonder if the Colts should’ve just gone the other route of franchise tagging Pierce, who seemed less likely to remain in Indianapolis untagged and was expected to have more interested suitors (albeit at a lower average annual value), than if it was Jones instead—who likely has the Horseshoe, and maybe the Minnesota Vikings (although they also seem very much interested to see what happens with Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, especially on a minimum contract, if not more so).
It’s Jones that’s rehabbing from a torn Achilles suffered late in the season, not Pierce after all.
It’s tough to swallow right now for Indianapolis fans if longtime general manager Chris Ballard can’t close the deal on Pierce, and the Colts offense loses one of its most explosive playmakers—just entering his athletic prime.
The Colts could’ve signed the 25-year-old Pierce to a contract extension earlier, particularly after the team traded AD Mitchell in a package for New York Jets All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner ahead of the past trade deadline.
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Now, Pierce had a breakout season, and projects to have his best football well still ahead of him after enduring a few years of early development and growing pains with the Colts to begin his pro career. After all, a lot of NFL wideouts don’t fully hit their stride until after their 3rd or 4th seasons in the NFL. Pierce appears no different.
Not to mention, Piece has a unique NFL skill-set, as having led the league in highest average yards per reception two years in a row, he features elite vertical separation, the special ability to high-point the football, and then to be able to simultaneously utilize his excellent athleticism and body control, to make acrobatic downfield catches—playing through physical contact.
And to the Patriots of all teams?
The Colts former longtime arch-nemesis?
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That would downright want to make a lot of Colts fans puke over Pierce’s new NFL home.
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