The Falcons spent the 2025 NFL Draft making an aggressive attempt to finally fix their pass rush.
One year later, both of those first-round picks are unavailable.
Atlanta edge rusher James Pearce Jr. has been suspended eight games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy stemming from his February off-field incident. Pearce entered a diversion program in April related to charges from the incident.
That’s a massive loss for a Falcons defense that was expecting Pearce to take another step toward becoming a star.
Pearce was one of the NFL’s best rookies last season, finishing with 10.5 sacks, 16 quarterback hits and a forced fumble. He led all rookies in sacks and emerged as the explosive edge rusher Atlanta had desperately needed for years.
But what makes this situation even worse is what happened to Jalon Walker.
Atlanta’s other 2025 first-round pass rusher suffered an ACL injury earlier this offseason and is expected to miss the season. That means the Falcons could enter Week 1 without either player they invested so heavily in to transform their defensive front.
The Falcons recently added veteran Cameron Sample, but replacing Pearce’s production won’t be easy. Sample has seven sacks across 61 career games, while Pearce produced 10.5 in his rookie season alone.
Atlanta believed it had finally found the foundation of its pass rush with Walker and Pearce.
Instead, the Falcons will have to survive at least half the season without either one.
For a team hoping to make noise in the NFC, this is about as bad of a start as Atlanta’s defense could have asked for.
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