Michael Pittman Jr. Fantasy Football News | Shark Bites

Colts WR Alec Pierce led the team in targets and receiving yards in Sunday's win over the Chargers. His 10 targets edged WR Michael Pittman by one. Pierce caught five of those -- second on the team -- for 98 yards. That led the Colts by 29. A 48-yard reception made up nearly half of Pierce's total yardage.

We learned ahead of Sunday's game that Colts WR Adonai Mitchell would play a limited role against the Raiders after marring his Week 4 opportunity with multiple stupid mistakes. That proved true, as Mitchell played just six snaps and ran two routes against the Raiders. He ranked fifth in playing time among Colts WRs, even with Alex Pierce still out. Ashton Dulin got the group's biggest boost, matching Michael Pittman Jr.'s team-high 27 routes, according to Pro Football Focus. Josh Downs trailed narrowly at 23 routes.

Colts WR Michael Pittman (hamstring) is not listed on the final Week 5 injury report. He popped up with a limited practice on Thursday but was back to full participation on Friday. It doesn’t look like the hamstring will be an issue in Sunday’s game vs. the Raiders.

Colts WR Michael Pittman was added to the injury report and limited in practice on Thursday with a hamstring. That likely means he hurt the hammy today -- and puts his status for Sunday's game vs. the Raiders in question. Indianapolis is getting WR Alec Pierce back from his concussion this week. Pittman would typically be replaced by WR Adonai Mitchell, but Mitchell gave up the ball at the goal line and committed a costly holding penalty last week. It's unclear if the Colts would go back to him in a full-time role. The other options would be WR Ashton Dulin -- or using WR Josh Downs in 2-WR sets. We'll update Pittman's status tomorrow.

Colts TE Tyler Warren racked up a team-high 9 targets and 7 catches in Sunday's blowout win over the Dolphins. He added 76 yards, second on the team behind WR Michael Pittman. Three of Warren's catches surfaced on the first drive.

The Colts will start QB Daniel Jones in their season opener against the Dolphins, according to both ESPN and NFL Network. Jones and Richardson seemingly played to a draw this summer, which makes it a bit surprising that Indianapolis isn't giving Richardson the Week 1 nod. We ultimately still expect both guys to start multiple games this season.

Update: “He's the starting QB for the season,” HC Shane Steichen said of Jones on Tuesday. “I don’t want to have a short leash on that.” We still don't think Jones will play well enough to keep Richardson off the field all season, but expect Jones to be under center for a while.

Colts’ WR Josh Downs left Thursday’s practice early with an apparent hamstring injury, according to James Boyd of The Athletic.

According to Stephen Holder of ESPN, QB Anthony Richardson is set to start Week 1 of the preseason, with Daniel Jones set to debut in Week 2.

Colts QB Anthony Richardson has generated more buzz than QB Daniel Jones in training camp so far. But The Athletic's Zak Keefer believes the race is "neck and neck" right now. Richardson has shown improvement on short and intermediate passes, but snap-to-snap consistency has remained an issue.

Colts QB Anthony Richardson is believed to be recovered from the right shoulder issue he dealt with last month, according to ESPN's Stephen Holder. Richardson missed two weeks of June minicamp with an aggravation of the AC joint injury that ended his 2023 season. The rest has seemingly alleviated the issue, though. Richardson has been "throwing the ball with velocity" for weeks, per Holder, although it's still possible that he'll be on a pitch count early in camp.

Colts QB Anthony Richardson is dealing with a right shoulder injury and won't participate in next week's minicamp, HC Shane Steichen said Thursday. Steichen called it an aggravation of the AC joint injury that ended Richardson's 2023 season. He had surgery then but is not expected to need surgery this time, according to Steichen.

Colts HC Shane Steichen said Monday that QBs Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones will split first-team reps this spring. That confirms that this is a truly open competition for the starting job -- rather than Richardson having a head start as the incumbent. The Colts have made it clear since the end of the last season that Richardson would need to earn the 2025 starting job after a disappointing 2024 campaign. The team's OTAs begin on April 21.

The Colts are finalizing a one-year deal with QB Daniel Jones. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that it's expected to pay Jones $14 million. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero adds that the contract carries a $17.7 million max value

Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr. said Monday that he played all season with a small fracture in his back. James Boyd of The Athletic reports that Pittman first felt the issue during training camp and had the fracture revealed by testing in Week 3. It was Week 6 when we got the odd progression from Pittman expecting to lose multiple weeks to a back injury to playing in that week's game. He wound up missing only Week 10 vs. Buffalo.

Colts QB Anthony Richardson (back, foot) is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game vs. the Giants. He didn’t practice all week. “We’ll see how the next 48 hours goes,” HC Shane Steichen said Friday. Beat writer Kevin Bowen notes that, of the 26 Colts players to miss an entire week of practice this season, only DeForest Buckner ended up playing. It seems more likely than not that QB Joe Flacco is under center for Indianapolis this weekend. He’d be just a low-end QB2 option in fantasy lineups but would be a significant boost to WRs Michael Pittman and Josh Downs.

Colts QB Anthony Richardson (back, foot) was not on the field for the portion of Thursday's practice open to the media. But ESPN's Stephen Holder hears that the team is "optimistic" Richardson will be ready for this weekend's game vs. the Giants. "He has made consistent progress and is responding to treatment," Holder writes. "But the source said Richardson's performance in Friday's practice would be critical." We'll update Richardson's status again on Friday afternoon. His absence would leave QB Joe Flacco under center, which would be a big boost for WRs Michael Pittman and Josh Downs.

Colts WR Alec Pierce (concussion) is out for Sunday's game vs. the Titans. He leaves behind 4.1 targets per game, giving WRs Michael Pittman and Josh Downs slight boosts. WR Adonai Mitchell figures to soak up most of Pierce's snaps but is only viable in DFS tournaments.