Alec Pierce is staying with the Colts and Michael Pittman Jr. is leaving, and it shows how fast things can change in the NFL.
How fast people can change, too.
And franchises, for that matter.
News: Alec Pierce signs long-term deal before free agency to stay with Colts
Related: Leading Colts receiver Michael Pittman Jr. traded to Steelers
We’re watching the emergence of Pierce as an absolute star wide receiver for the Colts – their first true WR1 since Reggie Wayne – at the same time as we’re watching two more high-velocity moves:
The career makeover of Colts general manager Chris Ballard…
… and the continued renaissance of the Colts as major players on the NFL’s talent acquisition market.
The Colts, and Ballard, went into this offseason with a task that would’ve felt impossible in years past: Commit more than $65 million a year to two free agents. Never mind that both free agents had been on the roster, as was the case with Pierce and quarterback Daniel Jones. Inside the building, outside the building, whatever: The Colts didn’t do this. Neither did Chris Ballard, though something very important has changed:
Ownership.
Don’t you dare look at me like that.
And when you see this, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, understand this following sentence I’m writing just for you: I adored your dad.
But this sort of spending spree didn’t happen under Jim Irsay. He had so many irons in the financial fire, between his donations and his band and his traveling memorabilia show and his need – dare I say his compulsion – to add to his collectibles. Jim Irsay would spend $4.5 million on one of Kurt Cobain’s guitars, and $6 million on one of Muhammad Ali’s championship belts.
Would he have committed $37.833 million in 2026 salary on a quarterback with a torn Achilles? Sure, probably. Would he have then committed up to $116 million – six days later – on a receiver? No chance. At least, there exists no data to suggest he would’ve given Ballard the green light to throw that many greenbacks at two players in the same calendar year, much less the same week.
Saying goodbye to Pittman would’ve been especially hard on Mr. Irsay, because he loved homegrown players, and productive players, and tough players, and community-first players. Pittman was all of those, a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft who led the team with 485 catches over the next six seasons, fighting awful back pain and still giving his body to the team and his heart to the community.
But Pittman’s body has been breaking down, and his production has been shrinking down, and if you’re wondering about his worth, this is all you need to know:
The Pittsburgh Steelers acquired Pittman for the cost of a late-round pick swap. Not draft pick. Not even a late-round pick. But a late-round swap. The Colts will get an unremarkable draft pick from the Steelers, who will get an even more unremarkable pick from the Colts, in this most remarkable week for our city’s NFL franchise.
Free agent tracker: Colts free agency live updates, rumors, news, what you need to know
Gone: Zaire Franklin, Anthony Richardson
Goodbye Zaire Franklin, too.
That’s Ballard being ruthless, being downright Bill Belichick-ian, dumping a player who has meant more to this team (and city) than the numbers could ever say. But the numbers say Franklin had 644 tackles from 2022-25, among the best in the NFL, and one Pro Bowl appearance. Add another flattering number – seven, as in the round Ballard found Franklin in the 2018 NFL Draft – and subtract the cheap cost to retain Franklin, and Ballard had reasons to bring back this particular linebacker.
But Ballard had a more important reason to tell him goodbye, and it’s the same reason he dumped Pittman on the Steelers:
The Colts’ playoff window has finally cracked open. Hey, maybe it’s cracked open in the way a window cracks when a ball smashes through it: ugly, unplanned, expensive to fix … but it is open, is it not?
That’s the 2026 Indianapolis Colts, trying to get their house in order for a run at the 2026 NFL playoffs.
It wasn’t anyone’s plan, to start training camp with a quarterback who probably won’t even be ready to start training camp, and to do it without the team’s leading receiver since 2020, and to be in this position with former franchise quarterback and No. 4 overall draft pick Anthony Richardson Sr. on the trading block and with former scout-team quarterback and sixth-round draft pick Riley Leonard as the team’s backup quarterback (and de facto starter, until Daniel Jones is cleared).
But this is where the Colts are, and it’s invigorating, isn’t it? Yeah, they’re bringing back their two most important free agents, but this isn’t the Colts running it back. This is the Colts knocking down walls to expand the prettiest part of the house, that offense that was setting NFL records through 10 games last season before Jones broke his leg, then two games later ruptured his Achilles.
This is the Colts, who have played it safe for so long, making incremental changes whenever possible, becoming damn near irresponsible.
Fun, isn’t it?
Colts GM Chris Ballard cuts loose
This started last year with the trade for Sauce Gardner, Ballard sending two draft picks – sorry, two first-round draft picks – to the New York Jets for a player who had missed his last game with a concussion. That trade backfired, in real time, when Gardner suffered a calf injury and missed three games.
But if Gardner is back this season at full strength, the Colts could have their best secondary since their Super Bowl days of nearly 20 years ago. No, this is not a Super Bowl team – not yet, anyway – and actually, this didn’t start with that midseason Gardner trade. It started before that trade, before the season, when Ballard did another thing he never did when Jim Irsay was writing the checks:
He committed $134 million on three veterans: cornerback Charvarius Ward, safety Cam Bynum and quarterback Daniel Jones.
Ballard had always said he’d spend money when it made sense, but until we saw it last year, those were just words. He’d also always said “it’s never about one player” – meaning the quarterback – and that he loves dem draft picks. But he went back on both of those mantras as well, choosing to invest heavily in a quarterback coming off that injury because let’s face it, it is about one player, and then sending away two No. 1 picks for a cornerback.
This is Chris Ballard being not the GM he’s been since he got here, but the GM we were promised when Jim Irsay signed Ballard from the Kansas City Chiefs’ front office before the 2017 season and introduced him to this city. Remember what Irsay had said that day?
“Chris is the best candidate for general manager that’s come about so far in the 21st century.”
Huge words, but we didn’t get to see it. Not for years. Yes, Ballard shares blame for all that has happened since the explosion of Andrew Luck’s shocking retirement before the 2019 season, followed by the fallout of one failed quarterback patch after another, but now we’re seeing what Chris Ballard, unshackled, looks like.
Like the Colts having one of the most expensive QB-to-WR tandems in the NFL – the Colts! – while shedding Pittman’s salary and Franklin’s intangibles and entering another tomorrow with the promise of something we’ve not felt around here, not like this, for close to 10 years:
Hope.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Doyel: This is a different Chris Ballard as Alec Pierce stays, Michael Pittman goes
Reporting by Gregg Doyel, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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