New England Patriots
“He is a much more complete player than people give him credit for.”
The Patriots have several avenues at their disposal when it comes to upgrading their arsenal of pass-catching weapons for Drake Maye.
They could try to trade for Eagles star wideout A.J. Brown — an established star who already has plenty of ties to Mike Vrabel.
They could use a first or second-round pick to add another promising blue-chip talent like Texas A&M’s KC Concepcion, Washington’s Denzel Boston, or Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq to their depth chart.
New England could also utilize some of their cap space on a free-agent option, although potential targets like Green Bay’s Romeo Doubs might function as more of a WR2 than a true top option.
Of course, the Patriots could also just stand pat, keep Stefon Diggs on his current contract, and run it back with the same receiver grouping that thrived during Maye’s breakout second season in Foxborough.
But, another option might be available for New England — Colts wideout Alec Pierce.
Going into the offseason, it looked as though Pierce was going to be a legitimate candidate to get franchise tagged by Indianapolis — keeping him off the free-agent market and on the Colts’ roster through at least the 2026 season.
But, Indianapolis switched gears on Tuesday, choosing to apply a transition tag on QB Daniel Jones. That transition tag secures the Colts the right of first refusal for Jones — allowing them to match any competing offer sheet he might sign with another team in free agency.
With the Colts tagging Jones, the door is now open for Pierce to hit free agency next week.
Pierce’s potential availability should raise plenty of eyebrows in New England, given his age, skillset, and big-play ability.
The 25-year-old Pierce will be the top wideout option in free agency if he goes to market, especially coming off a season where he reeled in 47 catches for 1,003 yards and six touchdowns.
Pierce would be a useful target for a QB who excels at the deep ball in Maye. Pierce led the NFL in yards per catch during both the 2024 (22.3) and 2025 (21.3) seasons with Indy.
“He averaged 21 yards a catch last year,” ESPN NFL writer Mina Kimes said of Pierce last month. “Difference between him and the number two player, who was Christian Watson, was the same as the difference between Christian Watson and the number 26 player. You just cannot in the NFL overestimate how much teams value explosive players.”
“He’s not just a speed burner, separator. He wins with size, too,” Kimes added. “Some of these catches are contested catches. He’s got good concentration downfield. He is a much more complete player than people give him credit for.”
After working alongside QBs like Jones, Anthony Richardson, Joe Flacco, and Philip Rivers in Indianapolis, the case can be made that Pierce has more to give if paired with a legitimate MVP candidate like Maye moving forward.
Maye was the conductor of one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL this past season, with the Patriots leading all NFL teams during regular-season action in explosive-play rate (8.1 percent).
“I’m looking at teams like New England, Tennessee,” Kimes said. “There’s so many teams where, if you got a big-armed quarterback, I feel like he’s so appealing as a free agent.
A player like Pierce — who could be utilized in a variety of ways in New England if they wanted to pair him with another X receiver like Kayshon Boutte — would give the Patriots even more big-play capabilities.
But, the 6-foot-3 receiver won’t come cheap. He could easily command $25-30 million per year on a new deal this spring.
The Patriots could afford Pierce, given that they currently have $39.2 million in cap space (per OverTheCap). Still, New England needs as much spending power as it can, as several other areas of Boston’s roster must also be addressed this spring.
On top of that, New England might have to carve out a significant portion of cap space moving forward if the team hands Christian Gonzalez a sizable contract extension.
If New England realistically wants to jump into the bidding war for Pierce, it would likely have to restructure Diggs’ contract or opt to cut him.
By cutting Diggs — who is due a $6 million bonus on March 13 — New England would save $16.3 million against the cap at this stage of the offseason.
Pierce might be a pricey addition. But, signing him would allow New England to seemingly upgrade its receiver corps without needing to relinquish the draft capital that it would take to pry a player like Brown out of Philadelphia.
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