Colts' Alec Pierce Talks Rookie Season, Technical Side of Game

Indianapolis Colts second-year wide receiver Alec Pierce breaks down his game and talks about his work heading into 2023.

That’s Drago man, I call him Drago. He’s going to keep fighting.

The Indianapolis Colts selected Cincinnati wide receiver Alec Pierce with the 53rd overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft in hopes of developing him into the perfect complement to Michael Pittman Jr. Following a fairly successful rookie season, the Colts have to be pleased with where the young receiver is at.

It was a disappointing season for the Colts, as the team finished with a measly four wins despite entering with playoff expectations. The team, especially the offense, failed to live up to the offseason hype and the result was a putrid product overall. Still, Pierce showed some high-level flashes in a seemingly lost season.

The rookie wideout finished the year with 41 receptions for 593 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also flashed some potential as a vertical pass catcher, as he hauled in 7 receptions on 15 targets for 243 yards and a score on targets with a passing depth of over 20 yards.

Despite all of this success, Pierce wasn't completely satisfied with how his rookie campaign went. "It was a bit of an up-and-down year for me," said Pierce. "I would have liked to stay more consistent down the stretch and for us to have had more wins as a team."

Regardless of how it could have been better, Pierce did string together quite a few strong performances. In talking with him about the finer details of his rookie year, Pierce gave a lot of credit to the cornerbacks that he faced in college to prepare him for the NFL game.

"I was practicing against NFL-level cornerbacks throughout my college career, so there really wasn't anything that I saw as a rookie that was completely different from what I experienced back then," said Pierce. "Those guys really helped me adapt to the NFL game with their physicality and how they approached press coverage in practice."

Pierce is obviously referring to Sauce Gardner in this quote, the fourth overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft that has emerged as a premier cornerback in the NFL after just one season. Aside from Gardner, Pierce also saw valuable practice reps against NFL players such as Coby Bryant, Arquaon Bush, and Bryan Cook.

On top of having that valuable prior experience, the Colts were also strategic in getting Pierce as many training camp reps as possible against veteran Stephon Gilmore. Gilmore, a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is as technical and as precise as it comes at the cornerback position. The best way for Pierce to grow as a young player was to have him face off against one of the top overall defenders in the league each and every day in practice.

While this was a great learning experience for Pierce, it certainly got frustrating at times.

"It was great exposure for me. The toughest part of that matchup was that we played a lot of zone in camp last year and (Gilmore) is just so smart," Pierce said. "He's been in the league so long that he would know exactly what route I was running based on what the slot receiver was doing or based on the splits."

"He would sometimes call out the exact route I was about to run before the play even started," Pierce laughed. "It was frustrating at times but I had to learn that some guys are just like that when you play against them. You still have to run your route and finish the play even if they are all over it."

Press Technique As a Rookie

Pierce was able to hone in on the technical aspects of playing the wide receiver position and the results were there on the field. He got off to a blistering fast start for the team, hauling in 24 receptions for 373 yards in his first seven games played with the team. The key to his early success came down to his effectiveness in releasing off of the line of scrimmage.

Standing in at 6'3" and 211 pounds, Pierce is a uniquely built wide receiver. He can win at the point of attack with his size and physicality, but he is a track star at his core. He wants to create that subtle inch of space so he can explode vertically and outrun his opposition.

For a player with this unique build, Pierce says it's really all about the first couple of steps in winning against press coverage. "Wide receiver releases are made out to be much more complicated than what they actually are," Pierce said. "You really need to perfect those first 2-3 steps to win on the line. It isn't really what it looks like in all those seven-on-seven videos online."

Putting this analysis into baseball terms, imagine having a young pitcher in a team's farm system. Rather than forcing that pitcher to throw dozens of different pitches, a team wants that player to perfect the basics of a fastball, or maybe even a change-up in there. The same can be said for a young receiver.

It is better for the development of a young receiver to perfect the first few steps of their release game before venturing into the more advanced footwork that a Stefon Diggs-caliber receiver has. It is more effective for a player to throw a 97-mile-per-hour fastball with movement than to neglect that fastball to learn a ton of other ineffective (but unique) pitches.

To properly visualize what Pierce is talking about, let's look at this route he ran against the Washington Commanders back in Week 8. Pierce is facing a pretty solid press cornerback in Benjamin St. Juste, so he knows that he has to be on top of his game.

Pierce begins this rep with a quick jab step to the outside. This first step opens up the hips of St. Juste, as the young corner gets prepared to turn and run with the speedy receiver. Pierce officially wins this route with that vital second step. 

Once he gets St. Juste to open up to the outside, Pierce is able to swiftly maneuver back to the inside and explode up the seam for a big-time reception. There isn't anything overtly flashy with this route, but it is a textbook example of how important those first few steps can be.

Alec Pierce's best release last season came against a solid young corner in Benjamin St. Juste.

Pierce set up BSJ with an outside jab before creating separation inside with his speed. Nothing flashy, but an efficient first two steps to win this route: pic.twitter.com/RwcisrvPvD

— Zach Hicks (@ZachHicks2) July 19, 2023

While Pierce was establishing the basics of winning off the line of scrimmage as a rookie, he did develop a go-to move of sorts. Pierce liked to rely quite a bit on this hesitation shuffle move against soft press coverage in order to create separation.

In asking Pierce about this tendency to go to this move, he went into detail on different types of press coverages:

The biggest thing in reacting to press is film study and seeing if the guy is a physical player or if they are more soft-shoe that likes to stay on top. If the guy is a soft-shoe type, then this type of release is a good way to stack the defender and step on his toes while he is trying to stay back. Firing at the player's feet and making him slow his movement is how I can create separation against those types of cornerbacks.

This style of press release is perfectly tailored to what Pierce brings to the game as a wide receiver. He is a massive wide receiver, so the much smaller cornerbacks that often utilize soft-shoe have to be aware that he could use his body to go through them in press coverage. With Pierce firing out quickly and getting on their toes, he is giving himself a two-way go to attack in multiple avenues.

Once he has the cornerback in this disadvantage, then he can use his elite explosiveness to outrun the defender vertically down the field. There is an old saying with receivers that, "If you're even, then he's leavin'" and that applies perfectly to a player like Pierce.

The prime example of this press move came against the Kansas City Chiefs back in Week 3. Pierce is able to perfectly stack Jaylen Watson on the outside before exploding up the boundary for the reception. This was picture-perfect footwork and body control to come down with this reception along the outside.

pic.twitter.com/xwUcgUHdNM

— Not Zach’s Burner (@NotZachsBurner1) July 19, 2023

The highlight of Pierce's (and maybe even the entire team's) season came back in Week 6 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Colts were down by one late in the game with a chance to win it with a field goal in the final seconds. Pierce, and quarterback Matt Ryan, had other plans, however.

On a pivotal 3rd-and-13 with just 20 seconds remaining in the game, Pierce found himself backside in a 3x1 formation against experienced veteran cornerback Shaquill Griffin. Colts wide receivers coach Reggie Wayne actually motioned to Pierce on what he wanted to see from the young wideout on the next play.

"Reggie Wayne gave me a look from the sideline and basically told me to work on my release the next play," Pierce said. "I got into this tendency early in the year of just sprinting on go balls and not working on my releases on certain plays/calls, so he wanted me to really work on this upcoming one late in the game."

"I think I gave Griffin one of those hesitation releases that you mentioned earlier, but it really wasn't my best release. It was actually pretty bad," Pierce laughed. "You know how it can be late in games when your legs are giving up on you. I was able to close ground and fight through the contact, and Matt gave me a perfect ball down the sideline."

Pierce's first career touchdown in the National Football League became a near walk-off score against a bitter divisional rival. It simply doesn't get much better than that.

pic.twitter.com/6TZG5vvvNd

— Not Zach’s Burner (@NotZachsBurner1) July 19, 2023

Expectations for Year Two

Flash forward to today and Pierce is still not completely satisfied with how his rookie season went. He believes he hit a bit of a wall in the later parts of the year and his full focus this offseason is on improving his body to make sure that doesn't happen again going forward.

"You know, I was told by so many people how tough the rookie season is. You are just finishing up the previous college season then going into training for the (Scouting) Combine then having to learn an entirely new offense and playbook," Pierce said. "It's a lot, and I felt like I started to fade down the stretch because of all that."

Wayne also spoke of the rookie wall that Pierce hit last season and did mention how this is a completely normal thing to happen to a young player:

Honestly, I told (Pierce) earlier this week, I said, "Man, you’ve got to climb over that wall." Like I kind of really felt like it was a couple of weeks ago, but everybody hits it. Everybody hits it. It’s just now the way that the practices and the way they play football now is structured, it’s more later now than it is when I played. I told him and I told him in front of the receivers, I said, "I think you had hit the wall man. You’ve got one more game left. Jump over the wall."

He looked at me and he shook his head and I said, "Hey, it happens with everybody." I said, "I had hit the coaches wall probably by Week 7 (laughing)." So, you just have to find a way to keep pushing.

The biggest goal for Pierce this offseason is to prevent that from happening next year, while also becoming a bigger part of the offense for the Colts' new young passer behind center. Pierce is working on everything from his exercise, his sleep, and even his diet in order to stay in shape for the upcoming season.

"I'm expecting good things next year for myself and for the team. I feel like being past the rookie season and not having to learn a completely new offense and being able to focus more on my conditioning is a big plus," Pierce said. "I'm hoping for some more wins this next year for us for sure."

Pierce is a young pass catcher with sky-high potential in the NFL. He flashed everything a team would want out of a player in their first season, now the next step is all about continuing that upward trajectory. With Pierce's ability and work ethic, I have no doubt that he can climb to success in this league.

As Wayne said late last season, Pierce is "Drago, I call him Drago. He's going to keep on fighting."

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