{"id":373271,"date":"2025-09-16T19:06:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/373271\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T19:06:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:06:16","slug":"tennessee-football-rookie-records-first-nfl-sack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/373271\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee football rookie records first NFL sack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thefalconswire.usatoday.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Atlanta;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Atlanta<\/a> (1-1) defeated <a href=\"https:\/\/vikingswire.usatoday.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Minnesota;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Minnesota<\/a> (1-1), 22-6, Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p>Former Vol defensive lineman <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/did-three-former-tennessee-defensive-115721373.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:James Pearce Jr.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">James Pearce Jr.<\/a> recorded his first career sack in the NFL. He totaled two tackles, 0.5 sacks and one quarterback hit for the Falcons.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Pearce Jr. was <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/james-pearce-jr-selected-atlanta-031137536.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:selected;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">selected<\/a> by Atlanta in the first round (No. 26 overall) of the 2025 NFL draft. He played for the Vols from 2022-24, recording 71 tackles, 29.5 tackles for a loss, 19.5 sacks, one interception, one touchdown, three pass deflections, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Pearce Jr. appeared in 13 games for Tennessee in 2024. He totaled 38 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, 7.5 sacks, one pass deflection, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery during the Vols&#8217; season that ended in the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n<p>Atlanta will next play at <a href=\"https:\/\/pantherswire.usatoday.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Carolina;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Carolina<\/a> on Saturday. Kickoff between the Falcons and Panthers is slated for 1 p.m. EDT (Fox).<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">More: <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/every-tennessee-football-player-selected-194503221.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Every Tennessee football player selected in 2025 NFL draft;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Every Tennessee football player selected in 2025 NFL draft<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow Vols Wire on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VolsWire\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/VolsWire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">X<\/a>\u00a0(formerly Twitter).<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/volswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/volunteers\/football\/2025\/09\/16\/tennessee-vols-football-rookie-james-pearce-records-first-nfl-sack-atlanta-falcons\/86184268007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Former Vol records first sack in NFL;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Former Vol records first sack in NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atlanta (1-1) defeated Minnesota (1-1), 22-6, Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Former Vol defensive lineman&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[223,235,3126,7,4446,703,18175,233,6,15,29947,526,1209,2661],"class_list":{"0":"post-373271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-carolina","10":"tag-defensive-lineman","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-forced-fumbles","13":"tag-james-pearce-jr","14":"tag-minneapolis","15":"tag-minnesota","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-nfl-draft","18":"tag-pearce-jr","19":"tag-tennessee","20":"tag-tennessee-football","21":"tag-the-falcons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115215544079136601","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}