James Pearce Jr. Responds to Facing Double Teams After Preseason Debut

If Atlanta Falcons first-round edge rusher James Pearce Jr. becomes a bona fide NFL star, then he is likely to see double teams and chips for much of his career. But that type of attention has already begun for the rookie.

In his preseason debut Friday, the Lions dedicated two blockers to Pearce on just about every play. It was an impressive amount of respect for a player who had never appeared in an NFL game -- preseason or regular season -- before last week.

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But Pearce took it in stride and didn't make too big a deal of it when the reporters brought it up to begin this week.

"It's their job to slow down the game a little bit to be able to help themselves," Pearce said when asked about the Lions double teaming him. "That's just what's going on in the league now to be able to slow down the game, especially with the edge rushers being so impactful.

"That's the game, and I have respect for the game."

Pearce wasn't able to get to the quarterback with all the attention he received from multiple blockers Friday night. He finished the game without recording a statistic.

But other defensive linemen and pass rushers were able to shine for Atlanta with Pearce garnering a lot of attention. Defensive end Aarnold Ebiketie had the biggest play of the night for the Falcons front, recording a strip sack in the red zone.

Typically, veterans draw multiple blockers to give rookies and other young players more ideal pass rushing situations. With Pearce getting that responsibility to help give single blocking assignments to others such as Ebiketie, it's potentially the other way around for the Atlanta pass rush in 2025.

But the end result of an improved pass rush is the same. The more defenders Pearce has worried about him, the easier it will be for others in the Atlanta front seven to make an impact in favorable blocking matchups.

The Falcons drafted Pearce at No. 26 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. The team traded back into the first round to land him.

That decision was quite controversial. Most pundits argued Pearce wasn't worth the No. 26 pick and that the Falcons gave up way too much in a trade to get him.

But the trade will be worth it if Pearce does a lot of the things he was able to do in his preseason debut.