FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. were driven separately to Charlotte just hours after the 2025 NFL draft.
The North Carolina natives didn't know each other despite their similar roots. They met for the first time right before they boarded the Atlanta Falcons team plane, en route to the city where they would be teammates. Two players from the same place who play the same position (edge rusher) were both drafted by the same team in the first round -- Walker at 15, Pearce at 26 -- a rarity in the NFL.
By the time that flight descended into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a friendship had been forged.
"Knew this was home for us," Pearce said. "He got drafted a few spots ahead of me in the draft, but ever since we loaded up the jet and landed in Atlanta, that's been my guy."
The Falcons are hoping that short journey is the opening scene to a beautiful relationship between players who could be cornerstones of their defense for many years. And so far, that has begun taking shape in very real ways.
Pearce is tied for the team lead -- and NFL lead for rookies -- with six sacks while Walker has five. In the past 35 seasons, the Falcons have had only three rookies get to five sacks: Walker and Pearce this season and Takkarist McKinley in 2017. One would have to go all the way back to 1988 for the last time the Falcons had a pair of rookies with five or more sacks in a single season. The two will try to improve their stats Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime) and quarterback Baker Mayfield, who's been sacked 24 times.
The two have nicknamed themselves "Thunder and Lightning," but neither is sure who is which.
"As long as we're striking something, we should be good," Walker said. The rookie duo has helped resurrect the franchise's pass-rush fortunes. Getting to the quarterback has been the Falcons' biggest deficiency for nearly a decade. Coming into this season, the Falcons had 30 fewer sacks than any organization in the NFL dating to 2019. This season? Atlanta is third in the league with 43.
The improvement has not led to victories, at least not yet. The Falcons are 4-9 and staring at an eighth straight season without a winning record or making the playoffs. But the organization believes it has fixed its woes in arguably the most important aspect of defense for the foreseeable future.
"I love both of those guys," Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. "I don't ever want to call these grown men my kids, but I love these guys like my children. These guys are awesome. They're growing, they're learning together. They're giving us everything they have."
THE FALCONS HAD the 15th pick in the draft last April and would have been perfectly happy taking Pearce, a 6-foot-5 speedster out of Tennessee who ran a 4.47 40-yard dash at the combine. Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot have said as much in interviews since then. Morris met with Pearce and his family in North Carolina the week of the draft.
Atlanta was not scared off by some of the red flags other teams had marked down for Pearce, ones that kept him off their draft boards entirely. There were whispers about maturity and attitude issues.
JAMES PEARCE JR AND JALON WALKER
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) November 9, 2025
SACK FUMBLE AND RECOVERY
NFLN | NFL+ pic.twitter.com/RRYiBMhPxO
"We were fortunate that we had some real inside information regarding his character," Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. "We had some people that really had boots on the ground there at the school, and because of that, we felt with great confidence that we were getting the right person, not just the right football player."
Then, something unexpected happened. The Falcons' turn came up and Walker was still available. The organization liked him, as well. Some pundits felt he would be a top-10 pick.
He was one of the best defenders in the country, the poised son of a coach with the ability to play both off-the-ball linebacker and on the edge. Walker also played at Georgia, right in the Falcons' backyard. They had the opportunity to see quite a bit of Walker and loved all they saw.
Atlanta decided to keep a Bulldogs star home, taking Walker with the 15th pick. But getting Walker didn't lessen the Falcons' desire to get Pearce, at all. Almost immediately, Fontenot got on the phone, trying to make a trade to get back into the first round.
It took 11 more picks -- and a hefty price -- but they got their man. The Falcons sent a second-round pick and a seventh-round pick in 2025, as well as a 2026 first-round pick, to the Los Angeles Rams to acquire the No. 26 overall pick in 2024, as well as a third-round pick. With that 26th pick, Atlanta selected Pearce.
When Morris, who won a Super Bowl as defensive coordinator with the Rams, was asked last season about his philosophy on pass rushers, he stated: "You really need two." In one night, the Falcons got just that. The perception, though, was that too much was given up -- next year's first-rounder, which at the time is No. 9 -- to do it.
"It's hard to get two first-round picks, and then when you do, sometimes you've got to give them something that you necessarily don't want to," Morris said. "But if you see real good value in it and something that's going to change you moving forward, I think you take an opportunity, and we did it."
Pearce whipped off the edge and came close to getting his hands on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. during a practice in training camp in August. Falcons left guard Matthew Bergeron took umbrage with Pearce's approach and got in his face.
The very next play, almost the same thing happened. That time, it was right tackle Kaleb McGary pulling off his helmet and screaming in Pearce's face. A scuffle broke out between the offense and defense, with Pearce at the center of it. Edge rusher Leonard Floyd ran over to have Pearce's back.
The skirmishes were an early example of Pearce's no-nonsense nature. He had an attitude to him -- an edge, Falcons coaches said -- that could get under the skin of others. In this case, it was teammates.
That was part of Pearce's learning curve, according to Morris.
"It was a little bit more like, 'How do I actually practice?' That's where all the fights came in," Morris said. "And then, how do you practice as hard as we're asking you to practice while being able to maintain the professionalism that's necessary to go out there, to not piss off all your teammates?"
Floyd, a 10-year veteran, has played a big part in mentoring Pearce. The two became close right away, and Floyd was more than willing to take the young player under his wing.
"It is been great to see him grow as a pro," Floyd said. "There's just his personality, who he is. It is always good to have a guy who's a little edgy on defense and JP, he's that guy for us.
"He's the edgy guy who gets into arguments and talks a little extra after the whistle, which is football. That's one of the greatest things about football. ... Just from playing the game, man, you need a guy who's a little crazy on the defensive side, who gets everybody thrown off."
Floyd said Walker and Pearce have basically the same mentality, but with different outward approaches.
"One is more, he'll show you everything -- that's JP," Floyd said. "[Walker], he's more tucked in. He's on the same thing JP is on. They got the same mindset. They want to win, and they want to get rushes and sacks."
The biggest thing Walker has had to learn, Morris said, has been selling different looks to an offense. Walker drops back into coverage more than Pearce, though Pearce has been successful at times doing that, as well. Walker played inside linebacker more at Georgia and even some defensive back.
"It was more or less like learning the calls, his stops, his movements, when he's dropping, what some of those things look like," Morris said. "The demeanor of not being able to tell a D-line when you're dropping, when you're rushing. That rush demeanor that you got to have, that's necessary to have."
WALKER SACKED NEW England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye in Week 9, forcing a fumble. Pearce was there to recover it. The very next week, Pearce got a strip sack on Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones, and Walker recovered it.
It was a signal to the rest of the league that Walker and Pearce have the potential to be a potent one-two punch for years to come. After a lingering groin injury from training camp healed, Walker hit his stride. Pearce had been getting pressures early in the season, but now has found a way to get home. Pearce had sacks in five straight games from Week 10 to Week 14.
Pearce is first among rookies (minimum 175 pass-rush snaps) in pressure rate (14.7%) and Walker is third (11%). Walker is first among rookies in sack rate (2.7%) and Pearce (2.4%) is second. If Walker gets one more sack, they would be just the fifth rookie tandem to achieve six or more sacks each in a single season in NFL history.
"It's very unique because I've said this before: Pass rush is art," Ulbrich said. "And it takes so much time and to really find out who you are as a rusher in this league and for them to have the success they've had so early, it's exciting because they're just scratching the surface."
That relationship that started on a plane in April has only grown. The two feed off each other and are competitive with one another.
"I feel like we're two compatible people," Walker said. "People might see us as polar opposites, but me and James really get along a lot and I just appreciate him, working with him, the relationship that we've built, the relationship that we're still building, just having that honesty and that 100% in our relationship."
Added Pearce: "Football, naturally, is just a competitive game and just especially us, we always want the best out of each other. He want the best out of me, whether if I'm slacking or he want to do something better, we always on each other about little things. Minute things."
Walker and Pearce actually have an agreement for after the season. The two will have dinner together and whoever wins the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award will have to bring the trophy to the table. Cleveland Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger is the odds-on favorite at the moment, but Walker and Pearce are close.
No team in the league has two rookies who have made the kind of impact as a duo that Walker and Pearce have. The Falcons have 11.5 sacks -- linebacker Divine Deablo has 0.5 -- from rookies in 2025, which is six more than the next-closest team.
The best part is the coaching staff believes the two will only get better from here.
"Really to have a brother that you can grow up with, not want to disappoint and do the right thing for us," Morris said. "So, that's all been cool for us to watch those guys get. They're extremely tight and they help each other in very good ways."