If you’ve been here a little bit, you know I like to do a weekly rookie report that breaks down how the team’s draft class has performed. Last year was rough for a while—the Falcons barely played their rookies, as we all know—but it’s something I’m excited to pick back up this year.
Because we don’t have any regular season performances in the books just yet to review, this one will be forward-looking. Here’s what I expect from the rookie class in Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
OLB Jalon Walker
Walker’s listed
behind Arnold Ebiketie on the team’s initial regular season depth chart, and I expect that to play out on the field. Nursing an injury off and on through much of preseason, Walker is expected to play a major role in this edge rusher rotation, but may be eased into that role a little bit in the first couple of weeks. It would not be shocking to see him picking up some snaps at inside linebacker, too, though those will likely be scant in the early going with the team clearly excited about the Kaden Elliss-Divine Deablo pairing.
I don’t know exactly what to expect for Walker’s role, in other words, but I’m confident he’ll play at least 30 snaps. He’s drawing a tough matchup against Luke Goedke as a pass rusher, but we’ll see how fares in it, and I’m excited to see how Walker looks as a run defender early on given the team’s acute need for help in this position group.
OLB James Pearce Jr.
I’d expect to see Pearce Jr. a lot on third downs; the jury’s out if we’ll see him getting snaps ahead of Leonard Floyd on earlier downs. The loss of Bralen Trice means that barring a Khalid Kareem call-up, there should be plenty of work to go around for what’s essentially a four man rotation.
Pearce will draw Charlie Heck, who is expected to fill in for an injured Tristan Wirfs, who has been considered unlikely to return in Week 1 for a while now. Heck has gotten brutally bad marks for pass protection the past two seasons, which gives Pearce and Floyd an opportunity to apply pressure and harass Baker Mayfield if they’re sharp. The hope is that the rookie makes an immediate splash, and he’s got a favorable matchup for it.
S Xavier Watts
Watts is the starter as the Falcons have committed to a full-blown youth movement on defense, which is both welcome and a little anxiety-inducing. Watts had his ups and downs in preseason and that’s unlikely to change in the regular season as he adjusts to life as a starting safety in the NFL, but he’ll get to play with fellow starters including the great Jessie Bates, which should help with that adjustment. Watts may also get a bit of a break with Cade Otton questionable for Week 1, meaning he may not have to cover a tight end who gave the Falcons fits a year ago.
Look to see how Watts fares downfield as a help defender and closer to the line of scrimmage against the run, where the difficult-to-defend Bucky Irving will be lurking. I’m expecting an uneven first day, but there’s a ton to like with Watts’ talent and his future.
CB Billy Bowman Jr.
The starting nickel cornerback after he won the job over Dee Alford, Bowman Jr. is expected to help revitalize a secondary that struggled a year ago, with some big play potential the Falcons have been missing. This week, he draws talented rookie Emeka Egbuka and Mike Evans, who averaged something like 10 snaps in the slot per week in 2024. Those are challenging matchups, and how Bowman handles them will tell us a lot about what we should expect the rest of the way.
T Jack Nelson
If Nelson plays anything more than a few snaps on special teams, the Falcons are in trouble. He’s a developmental tackle option who would presumably be in line for a role if anything happened to starting right tackle Elijah Wilkinson, but the team may use a practice squad elevation on Brandon Parker given that A) Nelson is not ready to take on significant snaps just yet and B) Mike Jerrell is still pretty new to the team. Parker, meanwhile, has been around on the practice squad since last year.
Nelson’s season is going to be all about developing, with perhaps a few snaps in blowouts to get him on the field. If all goes well with that, we might see him battling for swing tackle duties in 2026.
