'Probably why he's not great in these type of settings' – Falcons head coach makes strong statement about former Vol James Pearce
Former Tennessee Vols edge rusher James Pearce was viewed by many analysts as a top five talent in the 2025 NFL Draft. Pearce, however, fell to the bottom of the first round due to "character concerns" stemming from his team interviews and concerns about his coachability (the Cincinnati Bengals were reportedly one team that passed […]
Former Tennessee Vols edge rusher James Pearce was viewed by many analysts as a top five talent in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Pearce, however, fell to the bottom of the first round due to "character concerns" stemming from his team interviews and concerns about his coachability (the Cincinnati Bengals were reportedly one team that passed on Pearce due to those concerns).
The Atlanta Falcons ended up selecting Pearce with the No. 26 overall pick in the draft (Atlanta actually gave up quite a bit to trade back into the first round to select Pearce).
A big reason why Atlanta traded up for Pearce is because they fell in love with the former Vol during the pre-draft process.
Essentially, the Falcons saw through Pearce's shaky media interactions enough to get to know the real James Pearce, which is something that Atlanta head coach Raheem Morris spoke about on Wednesday with reporters.
"He was one of the guys that we dug into a bunch (before the draft)," said Morris. "And really, you know, [we] developed that relationship and fell in love with the guy and who he is — the honesty, the truth teller that he is. And so being around him, it's been a lot of what I thought [it would be] and what I've expected.
"[I've] been really surprised at his willingness to really collaborate with the people that we've hooked him up with — whether it's been the strength coach, whether it's been nutrition. Really his buy-in. [He's a] really smart, sharp, articulate guy that asks a lot of questions. One of those guys who is going to be very intentional about how he speaks to you. So when he's talking to you, he's going to talk direct. He's going to look you in the eye. Probably why he's not great in these type of settings. These settings, there's too many people, too many eyes on him. But when you are with him — intentional [and] direct — you get the best out of him."
The "character concerns" likely cost Pearce a couple of million bucks in draft slot money.
But the good news for the former Vol is that it appears that he landed with a team that not only believes in him as a player, but cares about who he is as a person. And that's big — those are the situations where players can truly thrive.
The Falcons are counting on Pearce to help them turn around their pass-rushing woes. The North Carolina native should have plenty of opportunities to make a big impact as a rookie this fall.
