The Indianapolis Colts brought in Darius Slayton to help cover for the early loss of Alec Pierce, but the move never had time to matter. Slayton is already gone, released on Friday before he ever played a snap for Indianapolis.
Pierce went down early in the season after he reinjured the heel he had surgery on in March, and the Colts signed Slayton a few weeks ago to add some of the explosiveness they were missing. Instead, Slayton ended up as a healthy scratch for two games, then missed a third after hurting his knee in practice. He looked ready to go in Week 6, but the Colts moved on anyway.
On its own, that’s a puzzling call. In the bigger picture, it fits the pattern Colts fans have watched for years under general manager Chris Ballard.
This season has already been full of head-scratching moves. Ballard talked about getting younger and more athletic up front on defense, then brought in free agents Micheal Clemons and Jerry Tillery, neither of whom had been productive before and neither of whom has changed that this year.
He also traded linebacker Zaire Franklin to the Green Bay Packers and cut fellow 2025 ILB starter Germaine Pratt, though Indianapolis brought Pratt back this week after no other team wanted to take a chance on him. And in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Colts used their first pick on CJ Allen.
The team praised Allen heavily after selecting him, even saying he could be the green dot on Lou Anarumo's defense right away. But Indianapolis hasn’t really turned him loose.
He got more run in Week 5 and was just meh. With a little more work, maybe that changes.
For now, though, the linebacker picture looks unsettled. Pratt is back, Akeem Davis-Gaither became the green dot after Week 1, and the defense also had a meltdown with safety Cam Bynum handling the play calls. That doesn’t point to Allen being a clear long-term starter yet, at least not this season.
Slayton’s exit is only the latest example of Ballard making moves that don’t add up. The Colts liked his speed and the fact that he had already worked with quarterback Daniel Jones, but that pairing never got a chance to take off in Indianapolis.
If there’s any silver lining, it’s the thought that Slayton’s release could mean Alec Pierce is closer to returning. But that seems unlikely. For now, the Colts are still without an explosive wideout, and that leaves the offense vulnerable to defenses crowding the line of scrimmage to try to slow Jonathan Taylor.
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ESPNs Ben Solak recently floated the idea of benching Jones for Anthony Richardson, a move built on the belief that Richardson offers more as a runner. But from the Colts perspective, the larger question is whether changing quarterbacks would actually change the offense in a meaningful way, or simply create a different set of problems for a team already dealing with too many of them. [Read more 🡒]