Falcons Mortgage Next Year's Draft to Trade With Rams for Tennessee's James Pearce Jr.

Atlanta sent a haul to move back into the first round to take the Volunteers pass rusher.

James Pearce Jr. during Tennessee pro day 2025. / Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Typically, an NFL franchise will only trade a future first-round pick to jump up into the top of the NFL draft, often to take a quarterback or another game-changing talent. The Jacksonville Jaguars did just that to move up to No. 2 to select wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter. Hours later, the Atlanta Falcons did the same thing in a much more unconventional move to take Tennessee defensive end James Pearce Jr. with the No. 26 pick.

Atlanta sent the Los Angeles Rams their second-round pick (No. 46) and a seventh-rounder in this year's draft, as well as their 2026 first-rounder, a pick that could hold exceptional value if Atlanta struggles again this fall. In return, they received the pick to take Pearce Jr. as well as a Rams third-rounder.

Pearce Jr. is the second addition to the front seven for the Falcons on Thursday, along with No. 15 pick Jalon Walker, a linebacker out of Georgia. The amount of draft capital sent out to take a late-first rounder is eye-opening, to say the least.

Also, if those details are correct, the Falcons just paid approximately 250 cents on the dollar for that trade. That’s a baffling, baffling move.

— nick wright (@getnickwright) April 25, 2025

Wish I could have traded with the Falcons at lunch in middle school. https://t.co/zXKmRitXDO

— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) April 25, 2025

Pearce Jr. may not be the average late first-rounder though. Entering the 2024 football season, he was one of the favorite to go No. 1 in the 2025 draft. He posted a relatively disappointing 2024 season, with 7.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss—both down from his '23 numbers—but he has incredible talent.

Still, considering this is not far off from what the Jaguars traded to land Hunter, and less than the New York Giants traded away to move up for quarterback Jaxson Dart one pick earlier, questions about Atlanta's moves are reasonable.

This is the franchise that signed Kirk Cousins to a massive, multi-year deal and turned around and used a first-rounder on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. just a year ago, so we should expect the unexpected with the Falcons these days.

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