The splash the Atlanta Falcons made in the 2025 NFL Draft is still being debated. Did they — or did they not — make the right decision in the first round?
There’s no question the Falcons were right to finally address their long-standing pass rush problem — it’s just how they did it that raised eyebrows. While selecting Georgia’s Jalon Walker at No. 15 overall came as no surprise, the shocker came 11 picks later when Atlanta traded back into the first round to select James Pearce Jr. at No. 26.
That move came at a steep cost. The Falcons surrendered their 2026 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams to secure Pearce. Now, Atlanta has to hope that gamble pays off.
“There’s a legitimate concern that Walker and Pearce could both take a while to figure things out,” Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine wrote.
Fellow Bleacher Report analyst Kristopher Knox believes it’s Pearce, specifically, who could be this year’s biggest disappointment.
“Former Tennessee product James Pearce Jr. will face incredibly high expectations after the Atlanta Falcons traded their 2026 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams as part of the package to get him,” Knox wrote. “The problem is that Pearce may be too raw to meet those expectations as a rookie.
“With fellow first-round pick Jalon Walker and free-agent addition Dante Fowler Jr. also on the edge for the Falcons, Pearce could be in store for a surprisingly quiet rookie campaign.”
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Last season, the Falcons attempted to address their pass-rushing woes through the draft, taking defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro in the second round, Bralen Trice in the third, Brandon Dorlus in the fourth, and JD Bertrand in the fifth. That group produced a combined one sack and zero starts.
Trice, in particular, was expected to make a major impact, but a season-ending injury derailed his rookie year. The Athletic’s Josh Kendall believes the Falcons will be banking on him, Walker and Pearce to fix the team’s pass rush woes, despite each having virtually no NFL experience.
“They are counting on one of those players, or some combination of all three, boosting what is historically one of the league’s worst pass rushes,” Kendall said. “Atlanta finished 31st in sacks last year with 31 and is the only team in the NFL with fewer than 300 sacks over the last 10 years. The Falcons lost bodies, including Grady Jarrett, on the defensive interior, and didn’t add much at cornerback, so they are putting a lot of faith in getting more pressure on the quarterback.”
