It was a much more exciting first round for the Falcons than most anticipated, beginning with Georgia Bulldogs star linebacker Jalon Walker falling right into Atlanta’s lap with the 15th pick. It was the first time the Falcons have taken a Bulldogs player in the first round, which is shocking considering how many elite defenders Georgia has produced under Kirby Smart and how piss poor the Falcons defense has been over the last decade.
But Atlanta wasn’t done. Towards the end of the night, Terry Fontenot swung a deal with the Rams, sending next year’s first round selection to Los Angeles and more in exchange for the 26th pick, with the Falcons taking another pass rusher — James Pearce Jr. out of Tennessee.
Falcons Receive: #26 (James Pearce Jr.), 2025 Third Round Pick
Rams Receive: 2026 First Round Pick, 2025 Second Round Pick, 2025 Seventh Round Pick
The trade was reportedly met with some pretty staggering reactions throughout the league, and not exactly positive ones…
There’s no question this is a massive roll of the dice from Terry Fontenot, and the sign of a GM that is likely fighting for his job this upcoming season. The Falcons haven’t even achieved a winning record under Fontenot’s watch, let alone made the playoffs. If that doesn’t change, Fontenot won’t be around for 2026, so what does he care about next year’s draft pick?
The Falcons don’t necessarily need to be an outstanding team to break their postseason drought. The NFC South remains one of the worst divisions in football and the entire NFC in general isn’t nearly as strong as the AFC. If the defense takes strides forward thanks to the additions of Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr., this team will be in good shape.
However, we cannot ignore the possibility of Michael Penix Jr. struggling.
Penix is the bright light that has everybody in Atlanta hopeful for the future, even after missing the postseason in seven straight seasons. He looked like a different breed in the first three starts of his career, and if he’s able to build off that, the Falcons should be just fine. But progression in this league, especially for young quarterbacks, is not linear. Michael Penix Jr. is undoubtedly going to have his growing pains, and the Falcons will have to deal with that throughout the 2025 campaign.
It’s not unreasonable to think Atlanta could miss the playoffs again in 2025 and then be without a first-round pick in next year’s draft… which would be a disaster, but here’s what we aren’t going to do.
We aren’t going to criticize Terry Fontenot right after the draft for being aggressive and putting his neck on the line in attempt to fix the Falcons single biggest issue of the last two decades. This entire fan base has been clamoring for this exact thing for as long as I can remember. Now that it’s happened, we’re worried about future first round picks?
The Falcons now have a defensive front worth getting excited about, along with a quarterback that many believe to be a budding star. They’ll have plenty of cap space to sign free agents next offseason with Kirk Cousins off the books, and though it hasn’t happened often under Terry Fontenot, it’s possible to find contributors outside of the first round. If James Pearce Jr. comes even close to reaching his full potential, nobody is going to be laughing at the Falcons in a couple of years.
