The Atlanta Falcons don’t have a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and the person who traded it away isn’t around to explain why.
Terry Fontenot shipped Atlanta’s 2026 first-rounder to the Los Angeles Rams last April in a draft-night trade-up for Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce Jr.
Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris were fired hours after the 2025 regular season ended. The pick slotted in at No. 13 overall and stays with the Rams on Thursday night.
James Pearce Jr. Trade Cost the Falcons Their 2026 First-Rounder
Atlanta used the No. 15 overall pick in the 2025 draft on Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker. Then, Fontenot got back on the phone. The Falcons sent the Rams their 2025 second-round pick (No. 46), their 2025 seventh-round pick (No. 242), and their 2026 first-rounder in exchange for the No. 26 pick and a 2025 third-rounder (No. 101).
Atlanta used No. 26 on Pearce, the Tennessee edge who led all FBS edge rushers in pressure rate in 2024 and ranked second in the FBS in pressure rate over his final two college seasons.
The move was considered aggressive and polarizing right off the bat. Atlanta ranked second-to-last in the NFL in sacks (31) and pressure rate (28.1%) in 2024. Fontenot and Morris, both entering what ownership had signaled was a make-or-break year, prioritized fixing the pass rush over future draft capital. Doubling up on edge rushers with their first two picks was the statement move.
Without a first-rounder, the Falcons don’t pick until No. 48 overall, the 16th selection of Round 2 on Friday night. Atlanta holds five total picks across the draft, tied with its 2025 allotment and its 2006 total for fewest in franchise history.
The new football regime, led by president of football Matt Ryan, general manager Ian Cunningham, and head coach Kevin Stefanski, walks into its first draft together with less ammunition than any front office in the league aside from the teams already trading on Fontenot’s old deal.
How the James Pearce Jr. Trade Looks One Year Later
The football evaluation of Pearce’s rookie season is straightforward. He finished with 10.5 sacks, an Atlanta rookie record in the modern sacks era, falling just short of Claude Humphrey’s franchise mark of 11.5 sacks as a rookie in 1968. Pearce’s total was the most by any rookie since Micah Parsons’ 13 in 2021.
He earned PFWA All-Rookie honors, finished third in AP Defensive Rookie of the Year voting, and had six consecutive games with a sack, tied for the second-longest streak by a rookie since sacks became an official stat in 1982. Atlanta’s defense set a franchise record with 57 sacks on the season.
Unfortunately, Pearce is now dealing with legal issues that threaten his availability, making this trade look even worse in hindsight.
Pearce was arrested in Florida on Feb. 7, 2026, two days after attending the NFL Honors ceremony, on charges connected to alleged stalking and ramming his ex-girlfriend’s car.
CBS Sports explained that Atlanta has to prepare “for the inevitability of not having EDGE James Pearce Jr. on the roster for the foreseeable future.” Any assessment of the trade that ends with the pick going to the Rams on Thursday has to reckon with that.
The Rams, meanwhile, sit at No. 13 overall because Atlanta finished 8-9 for the second straight year. Les Snead and Sean McVay played the long game when they agreed to Fontenot’s offer last April. Their own 2026 first-round pick went to Kansas City in the Trent McDuffie trade this offseason, which means the Falcons’ pick is what keeps Los Angeles in the top half of Round 1 on Thursday night.
The trade still produced a franchise-record pass rush and the best rookie defensive season in Atlanta since Humphrey. But whether Pearce has played his last down with the Falcons remains to be seen, especially since the decision-makers who aggressively traded up for him are now gone.
