How the Colts plan to replace receiver Michael Pittman Jr.
· Yahoo Sports
PHOENIX — Trading Michael Pittman Jr. left a lot of targets available in the Colts' offense.
By his own admission, Pittman didn’t play up to his standards in 2025, but he led Indianapolis with 78 catches, finished second on the roster with 111 targets and led the Colts with seven touchdown catches.
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Indianapolis decided to push in its chips on electric outside threat Alec Pierce this offseason, cashing out on Pittman with a trade to the Steelers in the process, but an expanded role for Pierce will not account for all of those targets.
From the sounds of it, the Colts are not planning to have any one player replace Pittman. Not veteran wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, and not a rookie, although a draft pick at the position is always a possibility.
The Colts plan to replace Pittman’s production by spreading it among its top three remaining targets.
“First off, a ton of respect for Michael Pittman and what he did for this organization for so many years, the toughness he brought, he’s going to be missed on this team and in this city,” Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen said. “With him departing, obviously, Tyler (Warren), Alec, Josh (Downs), getting more targets for those guys. … I’m excited for those guys’ opportunity.”
An expanded role for Pierce was made clear when the Colts signed the NFL’s best deep threat to a four-year deal worth $84 million in guarantees and up to $114 million overall.
Pierce’s megadeal is the biggest reason that Pittman is in Pittsburgh. Pittman was originally scheduled to count $29 million against the salary cap in 2026, a number that wasn’t tenable if the Colts were going to retain Pierce.
“A little of it was financial,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said. “Sometimes you’ve got to make financial decisions that you don’t always like, but you have to. Sometimes there’s ways to squeeze around it, but this was a case where financially, to do some of the things we want to do, we had to do it.”
Pierce wasn’t shy about his desire for more targets during free agency.
“That’s something that I know I can do, I believe in it, and the opportunity is now,” Pierce said. “It’s there for me to take it.”
He’s played a specialized role for most of his career. Pierce led the Colts with 1,003 receiving yards even though he finished fourth on the team with 84 targets, a career-high for Pierce but only by six more than his previous best, the 78 times he was targeted as a rookie.
Indianapolis paid Pierce big money because the Colts believe he’s become a complete receiver, the kind of player capable of handling some of the chain-moving catches that used to go to Pittman.
“Everybody plugged him as a vertical because he’s so good down the field,” Ballard said. “He worked hard on developing the route tree, being able to run and win without the vertical. That’s one of the things with his maturation and development over time that we’ve been able to see. He’s not just a go-ball guy; he can do it all.”
Then there’s the player who led the team in targets last season.
Tyler Warren, the throwback tight end the Colts drafted with the No. 14 pick a year ago, was targeted 112 times in his rookie season, producing 76 catches for 817 yards and four touchdowns.
Warren’s production plummeted in the second half of the season, in large part because injuries to Daniel Jones limited the moving-pocket throws and plays that were Warren’s bread and butter last season.
With a full year under his belt, though, Warren will likely take a step forward as a route runner, opening up different ways to get him the ball.
“He’s unique,” Ballard said. “You could almost tell me he’s an offensive weapon because he can do so much. … Tyler’s going to be a very big part of what we do.”
The Indianapolis coaching staff is spending part of the offseason going through a deep dive on tight ends across the league, looking for ideas on other ways to get Warren the ball in the passing game.
While Warren is not a burner, he can be effective downfield because of the way Steichen attacks certain coverages, and because he has the savvy to find open space, a skill that can be lethal on the kinds of short and intermediate targets that often went to Pittman.
Then there’s the player few people have been talking about.
Ballard believes that trading Pittman is going to open a chance for Josh Downs to show that he can be more than a slot receiver.
“Pitt’s a good player, and he demands targets. I think getting lost in this a little bit is Alec, yes. … But Josh Downs, I think Josh Downs is fricking good. I do. I’ve always thought he’s good. I think, allowing him some more opportunities, you’re going to see some of the special stuff.”
When Ballard watches the way Downs finds space, sometimes by making a move that’s more instinctive than drawn on a chalkboard, another Colts receiver comes to mind.
“I think he’s an all-around good player,” Ballard said. “He is our best separator. As a route runner and a separator, he is (excellent). I don’t want to compare him to T.Y. (Hilton), because T.Y. was so unique, but there’s some T.Y. in there. Instinctively, there’s some T.Y. there.”
When Ballard first arrived in 2017, he remembers that he didn’t fully understand Hilton’s greatness; Andrew Luck had to tell Ballard that offseason that the general manager didn’t get what made Hilton great because he’d spent the year playing without his starting quarterback.
Luck’s return in 2018 changed Ballard’s mind. Finally, he saw what Luck always saw.
“Josh has got some of that in him, unequivocally, and he’s tough. Remember, the Arizona game, he took two shots and hung onto the ball. He is legitimately tough. Not big, but he’s tough. Excited to watch how they use him, move him around, get him more opportunities.”
Warren’s arrival cost Downs targets in 2025. Used mostly out of the slot, Downs was targeted 88 times, 10 fewer than his rookie season, and posted career lows of 58 catches and 566 yards.
Downs has to prove he can handle the physicality of the outside to play a larger role. A diminutive player who measured at 5-foot-9, 171 pounds at the NFL scouting combine, Downs has operated out of the slot so it’s more difficult for defensive backs to get their hands on him.
The Colts plan to spend this offseason testing that theory.
“We’re going to look into that this offseason and see where that goes, but I do believe he can,” Steichen said. “We’ll get those reps in OTAs and training camp and go from there.”
Indianapolis will likely look to Westbrook-Ikhine, Ashton Dulin and any receiver the Colts land in the draft to replace Pittman’s 918 snaps, a number that can’t be meaningfully filled by the team’s top three targets. Pierce, Downs and Warren were already on the field plenty.
For the moment, though, the Colts plan to replace Pittman’s production by focusing on their proven commodities.
“There’s one ball,” Ballard said. “We’ve got one ball, and Shane does a good job talking to those guys, saying, ‘We’ve got one ball, and there will be games you catch a bunch.’”
There will be games when the ball goes elsewhere.
But Pierce, Warren and Downs will see it more often in the wake of Pittman’s absence.
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: Pierce, Warren and Downs will get more targets for Colts with Michael Pittman trade