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Falcons rookie James Pearce Jr. compared to Hall of Famer Jared Allen
The NFL has officially inducted four new members into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Defensive end Jared Allen, wide receiver Sterling Sharpe, defensive back Eric Allen and tight end Antonio Gates joined football’s more exclusive club over the weekend.
While none of these legends ever played for Atlanta, an NFL writer recently compared one of the Hall of Famers to Falcons first-round pick James Pearce Jr. In a feature from CBS Sports, Chris Trapasso highlighted one rookie comparison for each of the four Hall of Fame inductees.
Pearce was listed as the rookie comp for Allen, who retired from the league as one of the most productive pass rushers of all time. Allen, a former fourth-round pick, recorded 136 sacks, 228 QB hits, 32 forced fumbles, and 171 tackles for loss over his 12 NFL seasons.
“In terms of on-field style, the two outside rushers are clearly comparable, with immense bend and surprising point-of-attack power to drive offensive tackles into quarterbacks’ laps,” wrote Trapasso. “The two played completely different competition levels in college — Allen in the Big Sky at Idaho State, and Pearce in the SEC at Tennessee but are easily tied by production.”
The Falcons rookie was highly productive at arguably the most competitive conference in the country. Like Allen, Pearce became a consistent force of pressure during his time in college.
“Pearce had 19.5 sacks, 30 tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles in 39 games with the Volunteers, and ended his career in Knoxville with back-to-back seasons generating a pressure on more than 20% of his pass-rush opportunities,” added Trapasso. “The sheer relentlessness these two play with on a down-to-down basis was the final convincing factor for me — Pearce is the most Allen-like rusher in this rookie class.”
Thus far in Atlanta, Pearce has lived up to the hype. While fellow first-round pick Jalon Walker has missed time due to a hamstring injury, Pearce has been consistently disruptive when going against the Falcons offense at practice.
The team made a big commitment by trading a future first-round pick to acquire Pearce. I think it’s fair to say the Falcons would be thrilled if the rookie’s career follows a similar trajectory to Allen’s.
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