Outside Linebacker · Atlanta Falcons

James Pearce Jr.

No. 27 · 2nd season

A suspension looming, and the Falcons can't really afford it

Timing has a way of making everything harder. James Pearce Jr. is facing a suspension, and the Atlanta Falcons are already thin at edge rusher — the position where Pearce was supposed to be part of the answer.

Pearce came to Atlanta with real expectations attached. The Falcons needed someone who could get after the quarterback, and Pearce was the kind of player they were building around at that spot on the defense.

Now, with a suspension on the horizon, the team loses him exactly when they can least absorb the absence. The depth at edge rusher wasn't deep before this. It's thinner now.

For Pearce, this is more than a missed stretch of games. It's a chance to prove himself, paused. What he does with the time on the other side of it is the question worth watching.

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