Atlanta Falcons edge rusher James Pearce Jr. is back around the team, but his return to the field is still nearly a month away.
Pearce was spotted in the Falcons locker room Wednesday after his eight-game suspension took effect Aug. 30. The second-year pass rusher declined to speak with reporters, but his presence marked the beginning of the next phase of his suspension.
The Athletic’s Josh Kendall reported that Pearce can now meet individually with coaches during the next month. He still can’t practice with the team until his suspension ends in Week 9.
James Pearce Jr. Returns to Falcons Facility
“Pearce can meet with coaches individually for the next month but can’t practice until Week 9 when his eight-game suspension is over,” Kendall wrote Wednesday.
Kendall also reported that Pearce was back in Atlanta’s locker room but declined comment to the media.
The NFL suspended Pearce for the first eight games of the 2026 season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The suspension followed his February arrest near Miami after a domestic dispute involving his ex-girlfriend, WNBA player Rickea Jackson.
Pearce was charged with three felonies — aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police and resisting an officer with violence — along with a misdemeanor stalking charge. He entered a six-month pretrial intervention program in April, with the charges eligible to be dropped if he satisfies the conditions of the program.
Pearce remained eligible to participate in training camp, preseason games and other team activities before the suspension officially began.
He is eligible for reinstatement Nov. 2, one day after Atlanta’s Week 8 road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That would put Pearce in line to return in Week 9 when the Falcons face the Cincinnati Bengals in Madrid.
Falcons Have Been Waiting on James Pearce Jr.
Pearce’s eventual return could provide Atlanta with a significant boost off the edge.
The Falcons traded back into the first round of the 2025 NFL draft to select Pearce with the No. 26 overall pick, sending their 2026 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams as part of the deal.
He quickly became one of Atlanta’s most productive defenders.
Pearce finished his rookie season with 26 tackles, 16 quarterback hits, 10 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, five passes defensed, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery across 17 games. His 45 quarterback pressures were the most by a rookie in franchise history.
His 10.5 sacks also led Atlanta and were the most by an NFL rookie since Micah Parsons in 2021. Pearce helped the Falcons finish with a franchise-record 57 sacks in 2025 after the defense had ranked second-to-last in the NFL in sacks one year earlier.
Atlanta entered this season expecting Pearce and fellow 2025 first-round pick Jalon Walker to remain major pieces of that pass rush. Instead, Walker suffered a torn ACL during training camp and Pearce was suspended for half the regular season.
That has forced the Falcons to piece together their edge rotation without two players who were supposed to be foundational pieces of the defense.
For now, Pearce’s return to the locker room doesn’t change anything on Sundays. He still can’t practice and remains unavailable until the suspension ends.
But he’s at least back inside the building, with the countdown toward Week 9 now officially underway.
Falcons’ 10.5-Sack Playmaker Takes Major Step Toward Return