Read more about the Falcons<\/a><\/p>\nThe Falcons are having Walker work as a full-time edge rusher right now \u2014 \u201cI love that, it\u2019s good with me, and I\u2019m excited to embrace that role,\u201d he said \u2014 but likely will take advantage of the versatility he showed at Georgia as an inside linebacker.<\/p>\n
Pearce, meanwhile, towered above his teammates at practice (listed at 6-foot-5) and at points showed the speedy burst that made him worthy of a first-round selection. The Falcons loved Pearce to the point they dealt their 2026 first-round pick to the Rams to move up to No. 26 and take him. They were strongly considering him at No. 15, but Walker falling created this circumstance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to be effective,\u201d Pearce said when asked about his rookie-year expectations. \u201cI\u2019m not putting any numbers on it. But everybody knows the sky is the limit and the work I get out of it is what I put in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defensive backs Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman Jr., the team\u2019s third- and fourth-round picks, respectively, likewise will have the chances to play early. Watts could pair nicely with Jessie Bates III as a safety (the Falcons signed veteran Jordan Fuller, so he could start in the event that Watts isn\u2019t ready).<\/p>\n
Bowman can be moved around, so his presence expands the defense. The Falcons have had him working at different positions, he said, but he projects primarily as a nickel. He said he and Watts have started to develop a nice rapport, and he\u2019s felt comfortable learning the scheme thus far.<\/p>\n
Rookie minicamp will run through the weekend. The Falcons will begin OTAs on May 27 and have mandatory minicamp June 10-11.<\/p>\n
Undrafted standout<\/p>\n
The Falcons were giddy about landing Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant as an undrafted free agent. Bryant is smaller (6-foot, 180 pounds), lacks speed (4.53 seconds in the 40-yard dash) and sometimes uses his hands a bit too much, struggling with more physical receivers. But the production \u2014 namely 13 interceptions in 47 games \u2014 helped him earn three consecutive first-team All-Big 12 selections (2022-24). Most analysts expected a team to draft Bryant, even with his physical limitations.<\/p>\n
The Falcons had Bryant in for a top-30 visit, where they clicked with him and envisioned how he could impact a defense desperate for improvement. Morris said that meeting, along with the fact that the Falcons didn\u2019t take a boundary cornerback, helped the team beat out competitors to sign him after the draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cCobee is like the most famous undrafted player I\u2019ve been around,\u201d Morris said. \u201cMy kids know him. It\u2019s unbelievable all the stuff he\u2019s done, the accolades. But you go back and watch the tape, you\u2019re not shocked that he\u2019s well-known. We were fortunate to bring him in on a 30 visit and get a chance to meet with him, get around him. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it came down to that recruiting process at the end of the draft, that was something that was really exciting for me because I had a clear vision to speak to him in a clear fashion because I\u2019d watched the tape. I had been around him. I knew what he could do, what he\u2019s capable of. Whoever we were competing with basically didn\u2019t have a chance (chuckles).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now, especially after investing three first-round picks on two defenders in the draft, the Falcons are banking on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[2566,223,254,2554,224,7,6,3243],"class_list":{"0":"post-38988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-ajc-freelancer","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rookie-minicamp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114483509856399438","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38988","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=38988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}