Colts Cut Receiver After Failed Experiment

The Indianapolis Colts had hoped that Darius Slayton would help fill the void left behind when top wide receiver and the team's best vertical threat, Alec Pierce, landed on Injured Reserve with a reaggravated heel injury.

However, not even four weeks later, the Colts are pulling the plug on Slayton's time in Indianapolis.

The team announced on Friday that they have released the eighth-year receiver.

“Yeah, he had some good weeks of practice. Ultimately, it just didn't work out, and I think those happen," Colts head coach Shane Steichen told reporters on Friday. "I’ve got a lot of respect for him, what he's done in this league, and I wish him the best going forward.”

When Pierce was re-injured in Week 2, the Colts signed Slayton days later. Slayton spent his first two games with the Colts as a healthy scratch, but a knee injury last Friday kept him out of Sunday's road contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He returned to practice this week, but the Colts were ready to move on.

Slayton (6'1", 198, 29 years old) was originally drafted by the New York Giants in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Auburn, the same year they took current Colts quarterback Daniel Jones in the first round.

The two played together until Jones' release from the Giants midway through the 2024 season.

In seven years with the Giants, Slayton started 78-of-106 games and caught 296-of-522 targets for 4,435 yards (15.0 avg.) and 22 touchdowns.

Slayton started 12-of-14 games for New York in 2025, catching 37-of-63 targets for 538 yards (14.5 avg.) and a touchdown. He had core-muscle surgery during the 2026 offseason and was released by the Giants just before the regular-season opener after they'd rebuilt their receiver corps.

Without Slayton, the Colts now have receivers Josh Downs, Keenan Allen, Ashton Dulin, Laquon Treadwell, Deion Burks, and Anthony Gould on the active roster. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Quez Watkins, and Eli Pancol are on the practice squad, and Pierce and D.J. Montgomery are on IR.

With Slayton's tenure in Indy being fruitless and Pierce still on the shelf, the Colts must continue trying to find a vertical threat in the passing game.

Downs, Allen, and Treadwell are mostly chain-movers, Dulin has been injured for all but two games, and Gould mostly only plays on special teams. Burks is a speedster who has received a couple of downfield targets, but they've come up empty so far.

With no legitimate downfield threat, the Colts' passing game has been curtailed to start the season and is far off from the torrid pace they set early last season.

Jones' current 61.4% completion percentage, 5.8 yards per pass attempt, and 73.6 passer rating are all on pace to be full-season career lows.