When the Atlanta Falcons drafted Georgia edge rusher Jalon Walker, you could hear cheers across the fan base. After what seems like an eternity, not only did the Atlanta Falcons draft a pass rusher, they picked a UGA product.
What took them so long to do either remains a mystery. However, don't worry about the road in your rearview, focus on the pavement ahead.
11 picks later, the franchise traded up to grab Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce. Yet, that praise slowly dissipated as people questioned why the Falcons swapped a pair of picks and sent the LA Rams a seventh in a draft day trade that got them back into the first round.
"The Falcons gave up a lot to move up into the bottom of the first round — a 2026 first-round pick, plus Nos. 46 and 242 this year for Nos. 25 and 101,” wrote Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic. “And they selected one of the more polarizing players in this draft class. On talent alone, Pearce is absolutely a first-round talent, but teams may have dropped him down their boards after reports of coachability and consistency issues during his time at Tennessee."
Falcons’ management threw caution to the wind in order to double down on a chronically-glaring weakness. As for the critique, let's look at it. Drafting is not an exact science. Teams stacked with a bushel of draft picks can squander them, emerging with nothing.
For example, in 2018, the Raiders sent Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears and Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys. They ended up with three first-round picks in 2019. They selected Clelin Ferrell fourth, Josh Jacobs 24th and Jonathan Abram 27th. Ferrell couldn't sack a tackling dummy. Abram couldn't cover a rock. No draft pick is a guarantee, why not roll the dice on a player you believe in.
Next, the compensation wasn’t nearly as massive as made out. They didn’t give up a future first to move up from the second round. They gave up a future first for a right-now first, swapped a second for a third (who later became safety Xavier Watts), and added in a seventh rounder.
The Falcons lost one pick in this deal – a seventh.
Finally, the question of coachability – teams should discard hotheads that don't always listen? If that were true, there would be six wide receivers in the entire league. Not to say that a player doesn't need to heed advice and follow directions, but the over-importance of fostering some lost notion of the choirboy football player rings hollow.
At last view, football is a brutally violent game that affects a player's physical, emotional and mental well-being. As a result, the truly great players develop a numbness to the external. The Falcons did extensive research on Pearce, and they came away satisfied.
After years of hearing criticism regarding their draft picks, the Falcons made a bold move to energize a pass rush that looked flat and contributed to another lost season of not making the playoffs. Now, with two young edge rushers and a veteran in Leonard Floyd, the defense should be nothing, if not exciting.
