The Carolina Panthers’ division rival shored up their biggest weakness in the draft.
The Carolina Panthers had themselves a nice draft. They landed another target for Bryce Young and got some young pass rushers to bolster their defense. They’ve got to be feeling good about how they’ve improved their team. The same can be said for a lot of their rivals.
The Atlanta Falcons had a draft that seemed to be based on a bunch of Carolina Panther mock drafts. Their selections:
- 15: Jalon Walker, Edge/LB, Georgia
- 26: James Pearce Jr., Edge, Tennessee
- 96: Xavier Watts, Safety. Notre Dame
- 118: Billy Bowman, Safety, Oklahoma
- 218: Jack Nelson, Tackle, Wisconsin
The Falcons kicked off their draft by selecting CSR’s favorite prospect, Jalon Walker. They traded a 2026 first round pick to get back into the first round to select James Pearce Jr. The Falcons were one of just two teams that generated fewer sacks than the Panthers last season. While rookie pass rushers don’t always make the biggest impact, the pair should improve the disruptiveness of Atlanta’s front seven.
They continued to address their woeful pass defense in the middle rounds with a couple of safeties. Unlike the Panthers who have seemingly been targeting players more thought of as box safeties, the Falcons picked two cover safeties in Watts and Bowman. The Falcons already have one of the better cover safeties in the league with Jessie Bates III, so it’ll be interesting to see how they deploy their rookies. Jordan Fuller currently occupies the other safety spot. Panthers fans are acutely aware of the caliber of player he is right now, so the starting spot alongside Bates is up for the taking.
The Falcons did mortgage their future and limit their additions by moving up to secure their targets. That will probably come back to bite them down the road. But in the here and now, it looks like they improved upon their biggest weakness last season by adding a couple of highly regarded pass rushers.