Colts receiver Alec Pierce received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his left ankle at some point after he had surgery on his left ankle, a source confirmed to IndyStar on Monday.
It’s not clear when Pierce received the injection. He sought out the additional procedure, according to the league source, to help with lingering soreness and speed up the healing process. The injection wasn’t due to a setback in his rehab, the source said. Pierce also had a PRP injection prior to surgery.
Pierce, who received the richest free agent wide receiver contract in league history – four years, $114 million — this offseason, remains on the physically unable to perform list as the Colts prepare for Tuesday’s joint practice with the Patriots.
The team is yet to offer a concrete update when the receiver will be back on the field two weeks after general manager Chris Ballard told reporters Pierce was “probably still a week or two away,”
“Not right now,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said when asked Thursday if the Colts had a timeline for Pierce’s return. “His rehab is going great, I’ll say that. I don’t have a timetable on his return, but he’s doing a hell of a job on his rehab.”
Added receivers coach Reggie Wayne on Sunday: “(Pierce is) upbeat, and if he’s upbeat, that means he’s where he wants to be and where he needs to be.”
Pierce received his second PRP injection this offseason in the four-and-a-half months since undergoing what Ballard called a “clean-up” surgery to relieve the fifth-year wideout of pain that had become a regular presence over the last month of the 2025 season. Pierce told reporters in June that he received a PRP injection days after the end of the season in hopes of avoiding surgery and speeding up his body’s natural healing process. Doctors required up to eight weeks to determine the effectiveness of the injection, and though Pierce had begun light jogging by the time he signed his new long-term deal in mid-March, the pain had not subsided.
Doctors told Pierce that surgery was more a “when” than “if” situation – meaning he could put off surgery until immediately after the 2026 season, but waiting would come with heightened risks for injury. Surgery, coming with a four-to-six-month recovery timeline, was the choice in late-March – a move that called into question Pierce’s availability to start the regular season.
The message around the Colts continues to be positive with more than a month left in Pierce’s initial recovery window.
“Obviously, we know what he means to our (receiver) room,” Wayne said Sunday. “But I just want him whenever he’s 100%. I don’t want him 85%. I don’t want him 80%. I need him 100%.
“However long that takes, it is what it is.”
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Source: Colts WR Alec Pierce received PRP injection to speed up healing in ankle
Reporting by Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
