INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts activated receiver Alec Pierce from the physically unable to perform list Thursday, two days before their final preseason game against the Detroit Lions.
Pierce had surgery on his left ankle in March after signing a four-year contract extension worth $114 million. He had a platelet-rich plasma injection, which uses a person’s blood to accelerate healing, prior to the start of free agency. But Pierce told reporters in June when that didn't work after two months, he opted for surgery.
“We talked with the doctors, and I think we determined surgery was the smartest play for the long term,” Pierce said then. “They kind of were saying I was going to have to do it at some point, and then when I asked him what the time frame was, they said like four to six months. It was late March, so then I was like, ’OK, four months gets me basically to camp, kind of somewhere in there I should be back.'”
Pierce said the injury bothered him in 2024 and he continued to play through the pain last season.
In late July, general manager Chris Ballard told reporters he expected Pierce to miss up to two weeks of training camp as he continued to rehab. But Pierce missed all three weeks of camp and each of Indy's first two preseason games, prompting speculation about his recovery and whether it could linger into the regular season.
He now has more than two weeks to ramp up his activity before the Colts host the Baltimore Ravens in the Sept. 13 season opener.
Coach Shane Steichen said he plans to play most of his starters in Saturday's preseason finale with the exception of starting quarterback Daniel Jones and 2021 NFL rushing champion Jonathan Taylor. Pierce is likely to join Jones and Taylor on the sideline.
Pierce's new deal and Indy's subsequent trade of Michael Pittman Jr. to the Pittsburgh Steelers has him as the team's No. 1 receiver. Pierce finished each of the past two seasons with the league's highest yards per catch among all qualifiers.
He caught 37 passes for 824 yards, 22.3 yards per catch, and a career-best seven touchdowns in 2024 then emerged as one of Jones' favorite options last season when he had 47 receptions and 1,003 yards, both career bests, for an average of 21.3 yards with six TDs.
He will be paired with fourth-year receiver Josh Downs, who moves from the No. 3 spot into the No. 2 role. Recently signed veteran Keenan Allen is expected to take over at No.3, and Indy also will rely heavily on the versatile Tyler Warren, who broke franchise records for a rookie tight end. The No. 14 overall draft pick in 2025 had 76 catches, 817 yards and four TDs.
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FILE - Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce (14) runs a route as Houston Texans safety K'Von Wallace (38) defends during an NFL football game Jan. 4, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Maria Lysaker, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he is renaming Lake Ontario to be known as “Lake America” in the United States as he exacerbates his trade war with Canada.
The Republican president signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to update the lake's name in the U.S. geographic naming service. Trump cannot force Canada to follow his preferred naming convention, however.
Trump has been floating the idea of the name change in recent days as the U.S. announced it was imposing 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods over the weekend after talks between the countries broke down. Trump has been needling America’s northern neighbor since he returned to the White House last year, suggesting the ally with whom the U.S. once had warm relations should instead be absorbed as the 51st state.
Canada responded to Trump’s import taxes this week by imposing retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion worth of American goods, including steel, dairy products, appliances and farm equipment.
Trump, who signed the order as he was sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, had a large sign behind him propped on a stand with a map of the Great Lakes. Over Lake Ontario, in big red letters, the map read “Lake America.”
On the other wide of the president was another map with the words, “MAKING THE GREAT LAKES EVEN GREATER.”
The lake is one of multiple Great Lakes that the U.S. and Canada share borders along.
The office of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There is no single international body that determines names of international bodies of water and Trump has wide latitude over how the U.S. government recognizes geographic places and landmarks.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has traded insults with Trump, this week brushed aside the prospect of Trump changing the lake's name as “a lot of rhetoric."
The name Lake Ontario comes from the Huron Indigenous people’s word “oniatarí:io,” that means “lake of shining waters.” The province of Ontario, founded in 1867, took its name from the lake.
Trump said that while his action was not meant to send any particular geopolitical message, “Canada’s been ripping us off for a long time” on trade and military issues.
“They wanted to be treated like a state and they’re not a state,” the president said. “We just can’t do that anymore.”
“We love the people of Canada,” Trump added. “I don’t think their representatives do, an appropriate job. Maybe they’ll change. I really don’t know. It doesn’t make much difference.”
The move is reminiscent of his move last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America."
Trump scribbled his name with a Sharpie pen on the executive order then held it up for the cameras, offering, “And we filed all the necessary papers, documents, everything else.”
“We’ve notified all of the various people that we have to notify. So, we’ve done everything that you have to do,” he said. “And this is official, effective immediately.”
He also suggested his push to rename bodies of water may not be finished.
“So, if you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean,” Trump said. “So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them.”
Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
City Councillor Renaldo Agostino looks at the Detroit skyline across the Detroit River Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, in Windsor, Ontario (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
People look out across Lake Ontario from the harbor in Toronto, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)
President Donald Trump listens to a question from a reporter in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
