Did Atlanta FINALLY Fix Their Pass Rush?

For the first time in the Terry Fontenot era the Atlanta Falcons used a first round selection to address their pass rush. That’s right…it finally happened. After UGA linebacker Jalon Walker surprisingly fell to Atlanta with the 15th pick, the Falcons doubled down by trading back into round one to select James Pearce, Jr. from Tennessee with the 26th pick.

The Falcons famously (or infamously) finished 31st in the NFL in sacks last season and have not had a player reach double digit sacks since Vic Beasley in 2016. They have the fewest sacks in the NFL over the last five, ten, and twenty year periods and have not taken a first round edge rusher since (gulp) Takk McKinley in 2017.

So while fans applaud the team FINALLY addressing the gaping hole that has hampered the defensive side of the ball for nearly 20 years, there are still concerns over whether they overpaid to do so, and ultimately, whether the investment will work. 

The Picks

Here is our full list of pre-draft scouting reports.

Jalon Walker, UGA  

Walker wins with power, effort, and educated hands. He doesn’t have ideal size, length or takeoff (6-1, 243, 32-inch arms), but he still manages to win a lot. His first step is good, but he doesn't profile as a speed rusher despite being undersized. He rushes from any location and has strong, active hands and good pad level.  He excels at finishing in the backfield, and he's very good in pursuit.

Walker doesn't project as a pure edge, but he lacks the volume of high-level off-ball reps to play there exclusively. His off-ball reads can be a bit sluggish, and he needs more experience navigating traffic around the hole. His NFL success will largely depend on how he’s deployed. He's simply too disruptive and versatile to pass on, even if his role in the NFL is unclear.

Comp: Harold Landry III

The biggest knocks on Walker are his lack of size, uncertainty about his athleticism, and middling overall production. He did ZERO athletic testing during the pre-draft process, he has short arms, and he totaled just 19 TFL and 12.5 sacks in his career at Georgia. Despite winning the Butkus Award at the nation's top linebacker, his 60 total tackles aren't necessarily indicative of a top-15 pick. As always, context is important.

Walker's 2024 pass rush win rate was 17.2% (per PFF). He also had an 83.6 pass rush grade on 195 snaps, which was the most among all FBS linebackers. Over the past two seasons, his pass-rush grade is 87.2 and his pass-rush win rate is 19%. In true pass rush sets, he had an

elite 35.3% win rate in 2024, which was the eighth-best among edge rushers with 150 pass-rush snaps. In short, Walker only rushed the passer on 31% of his 2024 snaps and did so at an elite rate. By comparison, Micah Parsons had a pass rush win rate of 20% during his final season at Penn State, but only totaled five sacks as he was deployed in the pass rusher on just 13% of his snaps.

What does all of this mean? That sack numbers alone don't always make a clean projection to NFL production. Walker's win rate and versatility indicate he's poised for an impactful role as a pass rusher and overall defender at the pro level.

James Pearce, Tennessee 

Pearce is a prototype peed rusher with a good first step. He needs to develop more counters and more active hands. He's more powerful than he looks, but can get swallowed up by size...he’s light. He's at his best when he is stunting and moving. He had a highly productive career and plays hard. He will sometimes take the path of least resistance and give up gap integrity. He has good bend that will draw a lot of holding penalties, but some evaluators feel the bend doesn't match the overall athleticism. He probably fits best fill-time as a 3-4 OLB. His lack of size & strength might keep him from being an every down player. He could be good early on as a designated pass rusher.

Comp: Odafe Oweh

Pearce is a prototypical undersized speed rusher. The fear (as with most speed rushers) is that if he doesn't add additional weight and strength, he's going to be a pitcher with a 99 MPH fastball and nothing secondary to fall back on. Speed rushers are typically maximized in fronts with other productive rushers that allow them to move around for favorable match-ups or stunt into easier rush lanes. The selling point on Pearce is his high-level effort and athleticism that led to high-level production totaling 17.5 sacks and 28 TFL the last two seasons against elite competition in the SEC. He won't solve Atlanta's pass rush woes by himself, but it's hard to see a world in which he's not a huge asset.

The question is -- did Atlanta pay too much to get him?

The Trade

There is no denying that the Falcons paid a steep price for Pearce. This has become a recurring issue with Terry Fontenot’s philosophy of talent acquisition. “Value” is a term that does not seem to exist in his vocabulary as proven by the top-five selection of TE Kyle Pitts and the top-ten selection of RB Bijan Robinson. It’s difficult to think of many positions in NFL football that provide less value and lower correlation to winning than running back and tight end. The best tight ends in football don’t even approach the production of elite receivers, and the last ten Super Bowls have included just four 1,000 yard rushers.

Thus when Fontenot trades a 2024 third-round pick to move up eight spots for DT Ruke Orhorhoro and a 2023 fourth-round pick to move up six spots for OG Matthew Bergeron, it shows that Fontenot does not understand one of the most basic tenets of talent acquisition…asset allocation. When you repeatedly trade two picks for one player – which the Falcons have now done in three consecutive drafts – you limit your opportunities for talent acquisition.

To put it simply, fewer picks means fewer chances to improve your roster. Even if the player hits (as in the case of the monstrous draft package used to acquire Julio Jones) you cripple the opportunity to build a cohesive roster because you simply don’t have enough assets to build quality depth or address other areas of concern. This is the issue many observers have with the Pearce trade. The player is good, but the 46th pick could have landed the Falcons comparable edge rushers like Donovan Ezeiruaku or Mike Green while still preserving their 2026 first. Even if you feel Pearce is a better prospect, the gap isn’t big enough to justify punting on another quality good edge at no.46 and an additional starter with next year’s top pick. The trade provides negative value despite netting a good (hopefully great) prospect. 

The counter argument? 

If the Falcons make the playoffs next season they will select no higher than No. 20. The team may feel next year’s pick in the 20’s is unlikely to net a player as good as Pearce, a top-15 talent who fills an immediate, gaping need. In essence, they’re swapping no. 46 this year and next year's twenty-something pick to get the no. 26 pick this year. If you squint really hard, you can actually see some logic in that. But what happens if the team churns out another 7-10 campaign and selects 11th instead of 23rd? At that point the trade become a catastrophic overpay as it both fails to improve the win-loss column and also forfeits yet another valuable asset. 

Will This Work??

It should. It has to. Yes.

It may help to do a quick thought exercise:

Among returning Falcons players, Arnold Ebikitie and Kaden Ellis led the team in sacks with six and five respectively. The 2025 edge groups will include Zach Harrison, Bralen Trice (returning from injury), Leonard Floyd (free agent signing), Jalon Walker, and James Pearce. If each of these seven players averages just 4.5 sacks, the aggregate of 31.5 would surpass

last year’s total of 31 and stand as the team’s second highest mark of the last five years. That’s jarring. And that 31.5 projection doesn’t include any potential production from Troy Andersen, Brandon Dorlus, or Ruke Orhorhoro who are not expected to have major roles in the pass rush. Barring multiple catastrophic injuries, it’s difficult to see any world in which the pass rush does not show significant improvement moving forward. 

So despite totally neglecting defense in the first round of the last four drafts, completely ignoring draft value, and burning up assets in unnecessary trades, the Falcons stand poised to field a vastly improved pass rush  with a group of young, versatile defenders who are cost-controlled for the next 2-5 years. 

Time to go win some football games. 

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