The Indianapolis Colts' offensive trio of Daniel Jones, Jonathan Taylor, and Alec Pierce doesn't currently rank as high as their potential suggests.
The Indianapolis Colts face a make-or-break season in 2026. They spent several resources on revamping their defense, but they set out to keep their offensive core intact for the most part, banking on their successes through the first half of 2025.
Two big investments the Colts made were re-signing quarterback Daniel Jones and wide receiver Alec Pierce, who received a combined $109.49 million in contract guarantees.
Recently, Matt Verderame of SI.com ranked each team's offensive triplets, with Jones, Pierce, and running back Jonathan Taylor coming in at No. 25 out of 32.
"Much like the Giants, it’s about health here," Verderame wrote. "Jones is coming off a broken leg and a torn Achilles, putting his Week 1 status in jeopardy. As for Pierce, he signed a $114 million deal this offseason and then had ankle surgery, sidelining him until training camp at the least.
"Taylor remains one of the league’s best backs, having amassed 1,585 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns in 2025, but the lingering doubts about Jones’s abilities, combined with the injuries, have Indianapolis down the list."
On the surface, a trio of one of the league's most efficient quarterbacks of 2025, the third-leading rusher, and the reigning two-time yards-per-catch leader should be much higher. However, there are questions facing them in 2026.
The Colts took a one-year flier on Jones in free agency last year, but he won the starting quarterback job and reached new career bests in completion percentage (68.0%), pass success rate (52.0%), yards per attempt (8.1), yards per completion (11.9), yards per game (238.5), and passer rating (100.2) before his season-ending Achilles injury in Week 14.
The Colts re-signed Jones to a lucrative two-year $88 million deal this offseason. However, the reality is that Jones is rehabbing from an injury right now and has never played a full season, with seasons having ended due to a neck injury (2021), a torn ACL (2023), and an Achilles (2025).
There aren't many questions about Taylor outside of longevity. In 2025, he was a legitimate MVP candidate at midseason and put together arguably his best season. He led the NFL in carries (323), yards after contact (1,136), rushing touchdowns (18), and total touchdowns (20), and was top-three in rushing yards (1,585), forced missed tackles (67), and runs of 10-plus yards (36).
Taylor is now 27, coming off of his third 300-touch season, including two seasons with over 350 touches. Will he hold up again in 2026?
Last is Pierce, who will be counted on to be the Colts' No. 1 receiver for the first time, entering his fifth year. He's never finished higher than third on the team in targets, and his career-high 84 last year actually ranked fourth.
Pierce has undeniable talent, coming off his first 1,000-yard season, but the fact that he hasn't taken the field this offseason while recovering from ankle surgery and is being counted on to be the bona fide WR1 for the first time raises a valid question for skeptics.
