While most Atlanta Falcons fans loved the Falcons drafting Jalon Walker and then trading back into the first round to get James Pearce Jr., some NFL writers, pundits, and analysts weren’t so high on the move because of what the Falcons had to give up to get back in the first round.
However, after the Falcons’ strong defensive performance against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football national NFL writer for NFL Media and NFL.com Eric Edholm joined The Morning Shift earlier today and talked about how Atlanta's first four draft picks all look like "sure hits" right now.
“The only question I had with James Pearce of course like everybody else was the cost, we’ll still have to see if he ends up being worth it, but boy I mean those look like four I don’t want to say home run picks but four sure hits I mean they’re already playing, they’re already impacting games, all four defensive players had their fingerprints on that game Sunday night.” Edholm said
Through the first two weeks of the season the Falcons’ first four draft picks have to have General Manager Terry Fontenot smiling because in the first two games Jalon Walker, James Pearce Jr., Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman Jr. have combined for 25 tackles, two interceptions, two sacks, and a tackle for loss, and are proving to be an integral part of what so far seems to be a revamped Falcons’ defense.