NFL insider drops story about Falcons draft pick James Pearce that will leave no doubt about the former Vol's character
Ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft, there was a significant amount of noise about potential character concerns with Tennessee Vols edge rusher James Pearce. Pearce was viewed by most analysts as a first-round talent, but the character concerns caused him to take a tumble on some teams' draft boards. The Atlanta Falcons, however, weren't deterred […]
Ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft, there was a significant amount of noise about potential character concerns with Tennessee Vols edge rusher James Pearce.
Pearce was viewed by most analysts as a first-round talent, but the character concerns caused him to take a tumble on some teams' draft boards.
The Atlanta Falcons, however, weren't deterred by the rumors about Pearce's character, electing to trade back into the first round to select the former Vol with the No. 26 overall pick.
A big reason why the Falcons felt comfortable trading up to select Pearce is because of a story that Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer shared this week.
According to Breer, a visit to Pearce's hometown of Charlotte, NC was almost scrapped due to weather. Pearce, though, scrambled to find a place to rent out to hold the visit/workout.
From SI.com: A few weeks later, when a Falcons contingent led by GM Terry Fontenot touched down in North Carolina, it was pouring rain. Fontenot looked at the forecast, saw the rain wouldn’t break, and texted to agents to tell them they’d scrap the workout, not wanting to be a prospect in a situation where he’d risk injury that close to the draft. Dandy told Fontenot that Pearce was insistent. Fontenot responded that Pearce didn’t need to worry about it.
Dandy responded that Pearce was already trying to find an indoor facility to rent out. In the end, they agreed, instead, to meet at the house that Pearce had bought his mother in the area, and then bring him to Atlanta for a 30 visit thereafter, where he’d spend extensive one-on-time with Fontenot, coach Raheem Morris and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
But the whole experience helped the Falcons complete the picture on a player who was widely seen as a character risk—someone who was rumored to have been divisive and difficult within the Tennessee program. In the end, after sitting down with Pearce and a slew of people from his past, the team saw a guy who loves football, is hyper-competitive and has smarts, and the Falcons were willing to bet on Morris’s program to help him grow up.
According to Breer, the Falcons were prepared to take Pearce at No. 15 overall. Georgia's Jalon Walker, however, unexpectedly fell to No. 15. So the Falcons selected Walker at No. 15, and then traded a 2026 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams (along with a swap of some other picks) for the No. 26 overall pick (which was used to select Pearce).
Some NFL analysts felt like the Falcons gave up too much to trade back into the first round to select Pearce. But as Breer noted this week, the Falcons essentially viewed Pearce as their 2026 first-round pick — that's how much they liked the former Tennessee pass rusher.
If the character concerns about Pearce were even close to being legitimate, I don't think the Falcons would've made a deal to trade back into the first round to select him.
Breer's story about Pearce going the extra mile to meet the Falcons in Charlotte, combined with Atlanta's aggressiveness in trading up for the former Vol, should put an end to the idea that Pearce has "character concerns".
