Finding Falcons is a series that ventures beyond Atlanta's decision to draft a specific player and reveals the why behind doing so. Exclusive interviews with Falcons position coaches, area scouts and the decision-makers at the top detail the moments that solidified the decision to draft each of the men who make up their 2025 draft class. For five consecutive weeks, we'll tell those stories.
Previous installments: Jalon Walker
Stories by Tori McElhaney
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The first few times Jeff Ulbrich cut on the film of James Pearce Jr. during the pre-draft evaluation process he was impressed by the speed and bend he saw in the Tennessee edge rusher's movements. There was a fluidity there, one that stood out to the Falcons defensive coordinator.
The baseline of which Pearce was working with physically was high, exceptionally so.
As far as Ulbrich was concerned, before he had even met Pearce he was "the best edge rusher of this draft."
"His demonstrated win-rate, his demonstrated bag of moves whether its beating you with his 4.4 speed of the edge or his ability to counter," Ulbrich ticked off, "that, and I don't think he gets enough credit for the amount of power that he has in his body as well.
"He's got the full arsenal. Can we improve it? There's no doubt. But the starting point is so much better than most."
The problem was that Pearce was smaller in stature. Right? He had to be. You can't move the way Pearce moves on tape and be that much bigger than six feet tall. It's not normal.
"Evaluating him, you see the speed, you see the explosion, the ability to bend and turn the corner tight — all the things great rushers have — but the movement is so exceptional at times, that speed, that you think he is 6-foot-1, or 6-foot-2," Ulbrich said. "You think he is a smaller man because the movement is fantastic."
That is what Ulbrich thought.
Well, up until the moment Pearce himself was walking towards him when the two finally met this spring.
It was almost an optical illusion, as the defensive coordinator recalls it.
As Ulbrich spotted Pearce across the room, perhaps he thought to himself, 'Yep, on the smaller side, just like I thought.' But with each step Pearce took, Ulbrich's head began tilting back, his neck craning upwards. By the time Pearce was an arm's length away from Ulbrich, his face likely displayed the shock he felt as he looked upward into the face of the edge rusher he assumed to be something he wasn't.
The man standing before him? He wasn't at all the smaller stature Ulbrich assumed him to be. Not even close.
"I remember that first time I met him," Ulbrich recalled. "I was like, 'Oh my god.'"
That's because Pearce's size and length cannot be misinterpreted in person — all 6-foot-5, 248 pounds of him can't hide in a crowd.
"This was not what I was expecting," Ulbrich confessed. "To be that size and have that sort of movement and speed? It's special."
It was that moment that the Pearce piece fell into place for Ulbrich. It's a moment that made sense for Ryan Doyal, too, the area scout who first put Pearce on the Falcons' radar.
Since Pearce was a sophomore at Tennessee, Doyal had kept tabs on the edge rusher. By the time Ulbrich was hired as the Falcons' next defensive coordinator this past winter, Doyal — already established in Ulbrich's defensive personnel preferences — knew this had the makings of a match made in pass rush heaven.
"There is a natural fit there," Doyal explained, "just because (Ulbrich) is looking for guys who get up the field quickly, that have explosion, that have twitch, that have burst, and can finish and close to the quarterback. James is all of those things.
"... Ulbrich wants juice coming off the edge, and James comes screaming off the edge. So, if you're looking for that guy who really changes the count and tempo of how teams have to play us, that's where James fits in."
And there were a lot of teams who were intrigued by Pearce and the way he could fit on their rosters, especially after his performance at the combine in February. When Pearce lined up for his 40-yard dash, the Falcons expected a quick time. If his game speed was notable, his straight-line speed should be exceptional, too. And it was.
Pearce ran a 4.47 that day.
"With James it was evident at the combine," Falcons outside linebackers coach Jacquies Smith said. "I am sure he wowed a lot of people with what he ran, but you always like to see guys like James who do run fast at the combine, does it translate on tape? Do you see that type of speed on tape? With him, you see that juice is real. You see it all the time. So, it isn't just something where a guy is out there running fast at the combine and then doesn't show it on tape. He shows it on tape. It's all over the tape, honestly."
That, and the more the Falcons found out about Pearce, the more they liked what made him tick — despite the rumors and reports to the contrary. That perception of Pearce? The Falcons don't necessarily see it as cause for concern, more so misunderstandings of someone's motives, or — better yet — misinterpretation of someone's drive and how it manifests.
Ironically, it isn't dissimilar to Ulbrich's misinterpretation of Pearce's size because of his speed. One does not mean the absence of the other. So, it stands to reason a quiet nature does not mean the absence of passion.
"Everybody talks about what a bright young man he is," Doyal said of his research into Pearce. "When it comes to James, that's one of the first things that you hear: It's competitiveness and it's also the smarts — knowing the entire defense, knowing his assignment, knowing what other people are doing around him. But that chess piece that you have with somebody who is that knowledgable about what's going on around him, combined with that competitiveness, drive and will to win? It's what separates somebody like James."
He's an "alpha dog," Smith added to Doyal's assessment. Sometimes alpha dogs don't have to speak. They let their decision-making and way they live do the talking. Or in the case of Pearce, his play.
"He plays like an alpha," Smith continued. "He's gritty. He's tough. In the run game, he doesn't mind being physical. I think James does a great job playing with his hands. ... He has things that I say you can't coach. He's one of those players who has generational traits that I just can't coach or bring out of somebody, but you see the impact and explosiveness that he will have on a game."
It's why the Falcons felt conviction to bring him onto this pass-rush hungry roster. It's why they traded back up into the first round to acquire him. It's why, Smith said, there's hope for what he can be in Atlanta.
"He's a guy," Smith concluded, "who is going to be a force to be reckoned with."
