The Falcons’ pass rush took two brutal hits before the regular season even arrived, and now Atlanta has to figure out who’s going to chase quarterbacks off the edge.
Jalon Walker is out for the year after tearing his ACL in a non-padded practice nearly two weeks ago, a loss the team confirmed. James Pearce Jr. is also unavailable for the start of the season after the NFL handed him an eight-game suspension on Aug. 14 for violating the personal-conduct policy tied to his February arrest. Between those two absences, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich is suddenly without both of his top edge threats.
Walker’s injury happened during a two-minute drill on Aug. 4, when he was carted off the field, according to NFL.com. Imaging the next day confirmed the torn ACL. The 2025 first-round pick, taken No. 15 overall, had already shown plenty as a rookie with 5.5 sacks, 36 tackles and two forced fumbles.
Pearce’s situation is no less damaging. The Falcons took him 11 picks after Walker in the same draft, and he rewarded them with a rookie-leading 10.5 sacks last season.
The league said his suspension is without pay. He can still play in the rest of the preseason before the ban starts Aug. 30, and per The Athletic, he becomes eligible for reinstatement Nov.
“huge loss.”
That was how outside linebackers coach John Timu described Walker’s absence, and the Falcons have every reason to feel the sting. Ulbrich’s defense set a franchise record with 57 sacks in 2025, but now that production has to be recreated without the unit’s two biggest edge-playmakers for at least the first half of the season.
The good news, if Atlanta wants to call it that, is there are options. Veterans Samson Ebukam and Azeez Ojulari each once put together a double-digit sack season and arrived on one-year free-agent deals.
They look more like rotational pieces who can handle 40-45 snaps than full-time anchors, but they give the Falcons experience. Cameron Thomas and the newly added Cameron Sample also sit in the mix, though the team still needs somebody to emerge and bring consistent disruption.
That makes Bralen Trice and Zach Harrison the most interesting internal names to watch. Trice, a 2024 third-round pick, has never played a regular-season snap after ACL tears wiped out his first two seasons.
This summer, though, he’s been practicing regularly and earning positive reviews for his 6-foot-4, 274-pound frame and his power. Head coach Kevin Stefanski called him “healthy, very disruptive” and said the team continues to find his fit, according to reporting from The Athletic.
Harrison, a 2023 third-rounder, has flashed since entering the league. He put up 4.5 sacks in seven games last season before a knee injury cut him down.
He can line up off the edge or kick inside, which gives the defense some flexibility. In a recent informal survey of options, Trice’s pure edge upside edged him ahead of Harrison for a possible bigger role.
If Trice turns into a starter, the payoff could be huge. He’d give Atlanta a player who can hold the edge against the run and threaten the quarterback, and he’d also help make good on a 2024 draft class that has otherwise underdelivered with Michael Penix Jr., Ruke Orhorhoro and JD Bertrand.
Brandon Dorlus has already become a steady interior presence after posting 8.5 sacks last season and looks like a long-term building block. Put a productive Trice next to him, and the Falcons would suddenly have two legitimate difference-makers on a line that needs them.
For now, the staff is leaning on trust and repetition. Timu said the coaches believe the current group can replace the production, with a four-man rush emphasized over leaning entirely on scheme multiplicity.
Stefanski has also pushed the “next-man-up” message while leaving the door open for a veteran edge addition before final roster cuts. As of Aug. 17, nothing has been finalized.
Atlanta opens the regular season Sept. 13 at Pittsburgh, and the way this edge group holds up from the start will go a long way toward deciding whether the Falcons’ pass rush stays a weapon or becomes a problem.
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