The Indianapolis Colts built their offensive offseason around quarterback Daniel Jones and wide receiver Alec Pierce, and Locked On Colts host Zach Hicks and co-host Jake Arthur argued those bets have left the roster short on alternatives. Jones’ turnover issues and Pierce’s continued absence have put too much of the receiving contingency plan on wide receiver Josh Downs.
Arthur did not frame either decision as indefensible on its own. He said retaining Jones made sense after last season, while keeping Pierce was necessary for a team that valued his production. The problem, in Arthur’s view, was treating both outcomes as dependable without adding enough insurance behind them.
Hicks agreed that the Colts’ results have not matched the plan, even if he did not fault the basic process of bringing back Jones and Pierce. He pointed to the risk of a quarterback returning from an Achilles injury and the timing of Pierce’s ankle surgery, which limited the receiver’s offseason work before the injury flared again.
The immediate roster consequence is a thinner receiver room than Indianapolis anticipated. Downs remains a central option, but Arthur questioned what the Colts can reasonably expect beyond him while Pierce is sidelined. Veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen arrived late in the process, but the hosts said that move did not make up for the lack of depth.
Arthur also connected the receiver issue to a broader concern with the front office’s offseason approach: The team carried significant salary cap flexibility but did not consistently build fallback options at vulnerable positions. He cited the need to acquire help at center after Dalton Tucker struggled with snapping as another example of a contingency plan arriving only after the original option failed.
The hosts stressed that the Colts can still compete for a playoff spot, and Hicks said Jones has shown he can take better care of the football. But their argument was that a postseason berth alone should not settle the evaluation of GM Chris Ballard’s work. For Indianapolis, the next stretch will test whether Jones stabilizes, whether Pierce can return, and whether the offense has enough answers if either does not happen.
The Colts’ offensive ceiling still runs through Jones, Downs and a running game led by Jonathan Taylor. The roster-building question raised by Hicks and Arthur is whether that core can cover for the depth shortcomings.
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