Player
James Pearce Jr.
EDGE · Falcons
James Pearce Jr.: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
Rookie EDGE with 10.5 sacks and 16 QB hits through the recorded 2025 games — an instant pressure machine.
RarePearce 2025 rookie line
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Tackles | 17 |
| TFL | 10 |
| Sacks | 10.5 |
| QB Hits | 16 |
| PDs | 5 |
| FF | 1 |
The Falcons traded up to grab Pearce in the first round of the 2025 draft, and he's responded with a near double-digit-sack rookie campaign through the recorded games: 10.5 sacks, 16 QB hits, 10 TFL, 5 PDs.
The TFL-to-tackle ratio (10/17, or 59%) is the rarest number on the line — Pearce is barely making tackles that aren't disruptive. That's a pure-pass-rusher profile finishing at an elite rate.
10.5 rookie sacks would place top-5 among all 2025 rookies and top-3 in rookie EDGE history of the last decade.
ComparisonPearce's 10.5 rookie sacks through the recorded 2025 games is on a pace that few rookie EDGEs have matched: Aidan Hutchinson (9.5 in 2022), Will Anderson (7.0 in 2023), Maxx Crosby (10.0 in 2019, but he played 16 games). Pearce is in that tier — and depending on the full-season finish, could clear all of them.
For context: the typical 1st-round EDGE rookie sack total over the last decade averages around 4-5. Pearce is roughly double the cohort average through the recorded games.
16 QB hits / 10.5 sacks = 1.5 hits per sack — Pearce is finishing his pressures at an elite clip.
SplitThe hits-to-sacks ratio is one of the cleanest signals for pass-rush sustainability. Pearce's 1.52 ratio (16:10.5) is excellent — most rookies sit at 2.0-2.5, meaning they generate pressure but don't finish.
The 5 PDs are the other unusual marker: rookies typically don't generate PDs from the EDGE spot, where they'd need to bat down balls at the line. Pearce already has 5.
5 PDs and 1 FF as a rookie EDGE — the disruptive-event count is elite.
MilestoneThe under-appreciated part of Pearce's rookie line is the disruptive-event tally: 10.5 sacks plus 5 PDs plus 1 forced fumble plus 10 TFLs.
Add those up and you get 26.5 disruptive events through the recorded games. Among rookies in the database era, that's an elite-tier rate — the Falcons aggressive trade-up looks justified on the first-year tape alone.
Atlanta hadn't had a 10-sack EDGE since Vic Beasley in 2016 — Pearce just broke the drought as a rookie.
TrendThe Falcons have been in EDGE purgatory for nearly a decade. Beasley's 15.5 sacks in 2016 was the last 10+ Atlanta EDGE season until Pearce's rookie campaign. The franchise spent multiple high picks (Takk McKinley, Dee Ford trades, Calais Campbell signing) trying to find a foundational rusher.
Pearce, age 21 with 10.5 sacks through the recorded games, just gave them the answer in year one.
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