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Mark Raimondi
Flowering Branch, Ga.– jalon walker And James Pierce Jr.Moved separately to Charlotte just hours after the 2025 NFL Draft,
The natives of North Carolina did not know each other despite their common roots. They met for the first time just before boarding the ship atlanta falcons The team plane, en route to the city where they will be teammates. Two players from the same position who play the same position (edge rusher) were both drafted by the same team in the first round – Walker at 15, Pierce at 26 – a rare thing in the NFL.
flight by that time Landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International AirportA friendship was formed.
“Knew this was home for us,” Pierce said. “He was drafted a few spots ahead of me in the draft, but from the moment we loaded the jet and landed in Atlanta, he became my guy.”
The Falcons are hoping the short trip is the beginning of a beautiful relationship between the players that could be a cornerstone of their defense for many years. And so far, it’s starting to take shape in very real ways.
Pierce is tied for the team lead – and the lead for an NFL rookie – with six sacks, while Walker has five. In the past 35 seasons, the Falcons have only had three rookies reach five sacks: Walker and Pierce this season and Takkrist McKinley in 2017. One has to go back to 1988 to the last time the Falcons had a pair of rookies with five or more sacks in the same season. Both will try to improve their figures in Thursday night’s match tampa bay buccaneers (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime) and quarterback Baker MayfieldWho has been dismissed 24 times.
Both have their nicknames “Thunder and Lightning”, but no one is sure which is which.
“As long as we’re doing something, we should be good,” Walker said. The rookie duo has helped revive the franchise’s pass-rush fortunes. Getting to the quarterback has been the Falcons’ biggest lack for nearly a decade. This season, the Falcons had 30 fewer sacks than any organization in the NFL in 2019. In this season? Atlanta is third in the league with 43.
Reform hasn’t won, at least not yet. The Falcons are 4-9 and heading into their eighth consecutive season without posting a winning record or making the playoffs. But the organization believes it has fixed its problems in the most important aspect of defense for the foreseeable future.
“I love both of those guys,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “I never want to call these grown people my kids, but I love these guys like my own kids. These guys are amazing. They’re growing, they’re learning together. They’re giving us everything they have.”
the hawk had He would be perfectly happy with Pierce, the 15th pick in the draft last April and the 6-foot-5 speedster from Tennessee who ran a 4.47 40-yard dash at the combine. Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot have since said as much in interviews. Morris visited Pierce and his family in North Carolina the week of the draft.
Atlanta was not deterred by some red flags raised about Pierce by other teams, who kept him off their draft boards entirely. There were whispers about maturity and attitude issues.
James Pierce Jr. and Jalon Walker
sack rumble and recovery
NFLN | nfl+ pic.twitter.com/RRYiBMhPxO
– Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) 9 November 2025
Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said, “We were fortunate that we had some real inside information about his character.” “We had some guys at the school who had their boots on the ground, and because of that, we felt very confident that we were getting not only the right football player but the right person.”
Then, something unexpected happened. The Falcons’ turn came and Walker was still available. The organization also liked it. Some pundits thought he would be in the top-10.
He was one of the best defenders in the country, the skilled son of a coach who had the ability to play off-the-ball linebacker and sideline. Walker also played in the Falcons’ backyard, Georgia. He had the opportunity to see quite a bit of Walker and liked what he saw.
Atlanta decided to keep the Bulldogs star in-house, taking Walker with the 15th pick. But getting Walker didn’t diminish the Falcons’ desire to get Pierce in the least. Almost immediately, Fontenot got on the phone and tried to make a trade to get back to the first round.
It took 11 more picks – and a hefty price tag – but they got their man. The Falcons sent a 2025 second-round pick and a seventh-round pick, as well as a 2026 first-round pick. Los Angeles Rams To acquire the No. 26 overall pick in 2024, plus a third-round pick. With that 26th pick, Atlanta selected Pierce.
When Morris, who won a Super Bowl as defensive coordinator with the Rams, was asked about his philosophy on pass rushers last season, he said: “You really need two.” In one night, the Falcons got just that. However, the perception was that there was a lot left to do – next year’s first-rounder, who is the No. 9 overall pick at the time.
“It’s hard to get two picks in the first round, and then when you do, sometimes you have to give them something you don’t necessarily want,” Morris said. “But if you see really good value in it and it’s something that will change you moving forward, then I think you take a chance, and we did that.”
Pierce hits the sideline and comes close to getting his hands on the quarterback Michael Penix Jr.During practice at training camp in August, the hawk left its guard matthew bergeron Pierce becomes angry at his attitude and gets in his face.
Almost the same thing happened in the very next play. At that time, it was the right tackle Caleb McGarry Took off his helmet and yelled in Pierce’s face. A scramble between the offense and defense ensued, with Pierce at the center. torrent runner leonard floyd Ran to hold Pierce’s back.
The skirmishes were an early example of Pearce’s no-nonsense nature. He had an attitude about him – an edge, Falcons coaches said – that could get under others’ skin. In this case, it was teammates.
According to Morris, this was part of Pearce’s learning process.
“It was like, ‘How do I actually practice?’ “That’s where all the fights happened,” Morris said. “And then, how do you practice as hard as we’re asking you to, while still being able to maintain the professionalism that’s required to get there, so as not to offend all your teammates?”
Floyd, a 10-year veteran, has played a big role in mentoring Pierce. The two became close immediately and Floyd was more than willing to take the young player under his wing.
“It’s been great to watch him grow as a professional player,” Floyd said. “Just his personality, who he is. It’s always good to have a guy that’s a little sharper on defense and JP, he’s that guy for us.
“He’s a quick-witted guy who gets into debates and talks some extra stuff after the whistle, which is football. That’s one of the greatest things about football. … Just playing the game, man, you need a guy who’s a little crazy on the defensive side, who makes everybody nervous.”
Floyd said the mentality of Walker and Pierce is fundamentally the same, but the outside viewpoints are different.
Floyd said, ,There’s another one, he’ll show you everything – that’s JP., ,[Walker]He is more trapped. He’s on the same thing as JP. His mentality is also the same. They want to win, and they want to get more sacks early.”
The biggest thing Walker has learned is selling different looks for an offense, Morris said. Walker drops back into coverage more than Pierce, although Pierce has been successful in doing so at times. Walker played more inside linebacker and even some defensive back at Georgia.
“It was more or less learning what the calls, his stops, his actions, when he’s dropping, some of those things look like,” Morris said. “The demeanor of not being able to tell the D-line when you’re falling, when you’re running. That hustle demeanor that you have to have, that’s what you need to have.”
Walker was dismissed new England Patriots quarterback drake may In Week 9, forcing an upset. Pierce was there to recover it. The very next week, Pierce got a strip sack indianapolis colts quarterback Daniel JonesAnd Walker retrieved it.
It was a signal to the rest of the league that Walker and Pierce have the potential to become a powerful one-two punch in the years to come. After recovering from a back injury suffered in training camp, Walker hit his stride. The pressure was getting to Pearce at the start of the season, but he has now found a way home. The Pierces lost five consecutive games from Week 10 to Week 14.
Pierce ranks first among rookies (minimum 175 pass-rush snaps) in pressure rate (14.7%) and Walker is third (11%). Walker is first among rookies in sack rate (2.7%) and Pierce is second (2.4%). If Walker gets another sack, they will be the fifth rookie tandem in NFL history to get six or more sacks in a single season.
“It’s pretty unique because I’ve said it before: The pass rush is art,” Ulbrich said. “And it takes a lot of time and really figuring out who you are as a runner in this league and it’s exciting for them to have success so quickly because they’re just scratching the surface.”
The relationship that started on the plane in April has now grown further. Both nurture each other and are competitive with each other.
“I feel like we’re two compatible people,” Walker said. “People might look at us as polar opposites, but me and James get along really well and I just appreciate him, working with him, the relationship we’ve built, the relationship we’re still building, just that honesty in our relationship and he’s 100% there.”
Pierce said: “Football, naturally, is just a competitive game and especially us, we always want the best from each other. He wants the best from me, whether I’m slacking off or he wants to do something better, we’re always attacking each other for the little things. The little things.”
Walker and Pierce actually have an agreement for the postseason. The two will have dinner together and whoever wins the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award will have to bring the trophy to the table. cleveland browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger The favorite at the moment, but Walker and Pearce are close.
No team in the league has two rookies who have made as much of an impact as the duo of Walker and Pierce. Falcons have 11.5 sacks – Linebacker divine diablo The rookie in 2025 is 0.5, which is six more than the next closest team.
The best part is that the coaching staff believes both will only get better from here.
“Truly having a brother that you can grow up with, not wanting to be disappointed and wanting to do the right thing for us,” Morris said. “So, it’s been cool for us to see those guys get along. They’re extremely tight-knit and they help each other in great ways.”
