{"id":266268,"date":"2026-03-09T12:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=266268"},"modified":"2026-03-09T13:00:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:00:46","slug":"alec-pierce-nfls-two-time-ypc-leader-signs-contract-indianapolis-colts-to-place-franchise-tag-on-top-ypc-receiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/03\/09\/alec-pierce-nfls-two-time-ypc-leader-signs-contract-indianapolis-colts-to-place-franchise-tag-on-top-ypc-receiver\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL&#8217;s Two-Time YPC Leader Signs Contract With Colts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most explosive talents in the NFL, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/P\/PierAl00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alec Pierce<\/a>, is set to have a new contract for the 2026 season. Pierce and the Indianapolis Colts have reportedly come to terms on a<a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nfl\/breaking-news\/article\/alec-pierce-colts-reportedly-agree-to-4-year-116-million-deal-ahead-of-free-agency-160531982.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> four-year, $114 million contract<\/a>. A second-round pick in 2022, Pierce had spent each of his four years in the NFL with the<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/colts\/\" target=\"_self\"> Indianapolis Colts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOByQirbh0o\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3988px; aspect-ratio: 3988\/2659;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h2>Alec Pierce, Indianapolis Colts, Agree to Contract<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Colts and WR Alec Pierce agreed to terms on a massive four-year, $114 million contract extension, sources tell me and <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RapSheet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@RapSheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Indy keeps its top receiver and Pierce gets his payday on a deal negotiated by CJ LaBoy and Michael Swenson of @WassermanFootball. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/02DVZUoq7x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/02DVZUoq7x<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TomPelissero\/status\/2031038226001993913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Pierce was selected with the 53rd overall pick in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/category\/big12\/cincinnati-bearcats\/\" target=\"_self\">Cincinnati<\/a>. With 884 yards and seven touchdowns over 14 games, Pierce led the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff as the first non-Power program (at the time) to do so. As a rookie, Pierce immediately made an impact. He appeared in 16 games and logged 12 starts for a total of 725 offensive snaps (66% of the team total). In that time, he turned 78 targets into 41 receptions, 593 yards, and a pair of touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>In his second season, Pierce started 16 games and played 1,095 snaps (95%). He hauled in 32 receptions (65 targets) for 514 yards and another two touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>Pierce really began to come into his own over the last two seasons. In 2024, he started 13 games and appeared in three others. Pierce garnered 69 targets, which he turned into 37 receptions for 824 yards and a career-best seven touchdowns. His 22.3 yards per reception mark led the NFL (and is tied for 76th-best in NFL history). The next-closest had 17.3 yards per catch.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Pierce had a career year. He set new high-water marks for targets (84), receptions (47), and yards (1,003), while scoring seven touchdowns. He did so with 14 starts and only 813 snaps on offense. Just as he did in 2024, Pierce led the NFL in yards per catch with 21.3, and the next closest had 17.5.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last two seasons, Pierce has had the 94th-most receptions with 84 and the 26th-most receiving yards with 1,827 for an NFL-leading 21.75 yards per catch.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: [Robert Goddin] &#8211; Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NFL&#8217;s leader in yards per reception over the last two seasons, Alec Pierce is set to play in 2026 on a new contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":266276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,12],"tags":[9094],"class_list":["post-266268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-colts","tag-alec-pierce"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266268"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268541,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266268\/revisions\/268541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}