Pearce, Atlanta's rookie pass rusher, has played more snaps than any player on the team in practice and is plenty busy in games, too.

The Atlanta Falcons drafted a pair of bookend pass rushers in the 2025 NFL Draft, and their friendly competition is fueling them to get better.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said, “the edge play, the pure edge play, like defensive-end play, is still fairly new to him. So he’s learning as we go.”

The two first-round selections made their NFL debut in Friday night's preseason opener against the Detroit Lions. Neither player lit up the stat sheet, but there was still plenty to like. Pearce got after the quarterback and recorded three QB hurries.