The Atlanta Falcons were criticized by many (specifically Mel Kiper, Jr.) for trading back up into the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft and selecting edge rusher James Pearce, Jr. out of the University of Tennessee.
ESPN’s Louis Riddick was not one of them. In fact, the former Director of Pro Personnel recently made a bold prediction during an ESPN segment and predicted that Pearce would dethrone Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson as the NFL’s sack leader.
“I don’t know how many people know this name,” Riddick said. “If you are a draftnik like we are, you know how James Pearce Jr. is. How about James Pearce Jr. leads the league in sacks this year.”
Last year, 17.5 sacks led the league and it might take a similar effort from Pearce to win the title this year.
Riddick compares James Pearce to The Freak
The Tennessee Titans drafted Jevon Kearse in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft out of the University of Florida. While terrorizing opposing NFL quarterbacks to the tune of 14.5 sacks as a rookie, he earned the nickname, “The Freak.”
Riddick thinks Pearce could be Kearse 2.0.
“From all reports down there [Atlanta], he’s been unblockable in training camp. I said during the draft, if you remember, he reminded me of Jevon Kearse, ‘The Freak’, the original freak who used to play for the Titans. This kid right here may solve all of Atlanta’s pass-rush issues they’ve had for the past four or five years.”
Kearse had 74 sacks in 122 starts over the course of 11 years in the NFL. If Pearce can get even a chunk of that, the Falcons will be glad they made the trade up.
James Pearce has shown that he has an edge
Most Falcons fans are aware of the training camp fight that took place a couple of weeks ago. Well, Pearce was in the middle of it, locking up with left guard Matthew Bergeron. It got a bit out of hand, but the two players were separated.
“We’re trying to develop a culture — a style of play, for sure — and part of that is the violence with which we play and aggression, the urgency and all that,” Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. “Today, at times, it went a little too far, and we’ve got to learn how to manage that.”
The Falcons like that fire (and lord knows their defense could use it…especially on the pass rush) and head coach Raheem Morris said that’s why he drafted him.
“When you talk about rushing the passer, you’re talking about some of these great pass rushers that we talk about, whether it’s Aaron Donald, whether you’re talking about Von Miller, whether you’re talking about Warren Sapp or you’re talking about Simeon Rice,” Morris said.
“Any of these guys that have rushed the passer, they’ve got a little bit of edge, and part of our whole draft, part of our whole philosophy, part of our practice, part of us becoming a team that we want to be and going out and actually doing some of these things is acquiring players with some natural edge.”
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