James Pearce Jr., EDGE, Tennessee (Junior)
Rayane M
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Strengths :
- Nice athletic abilities
- Takeoff
- Huge ability to change rythm
- Powerful and dominant
- Excellent Gap shooter
- Good ability to drop in zone
Weaknesses :
- Really average bend
- Limited moves
- Pass rush plan needs work
- Run Stop
- Indisciplined pass rusher
- Shameful pursuits
EDGE James Pearce
— Rayane M (@RayaneScout) March 5, 2025
A player who possesses all the famous “tools” that franchises are so fond of, yet who has left us wanting more this season
While he certainly possesses all the tools, it hasn't really clicked for him so far, yet James has the potential to be a Edge1
Tier 2 🔍 pic.twitter.com/1jFG6BetMt
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Long considered a clear first-round pick, James Pearce Jr. is now experiencing a significant slide—the more time passes, the further he falls. While this seems to stem from off-field concerns, what about his on-field production? Is he truly a player worthy of a first-round selection, or is this slide actually bringing us closer to his true value? That’s what we’re going to look at today.
To start, as always, with what a prospect does well, we first need to mention that James Pearce has impressive athletic traits on the field. Most of the time, he shows good quickness and can really get to the play in a hurry. His strength shouldn’t be overlooked either, but we’ll come back to that in a moment.
Moreover, thanks to his good mobility and power, James displays solid explosiveness on his takeoff, which allows him to show great activity at the snap, catching his opponent off guard and putting him in trouble right from the start.
He uses that powerful first step as a psychological weapon, constantly playing with changes in his rush tempo.
Indeed, as his opponents fear this explosive Takeoff, James uses and abuses changes of pace to open up opportunities to beat the player whose objective is to block him.
In this way, you'll see that it's not uncommon for James to use a little Hesi-move (or Stutter Step in football terms) to get the blocker in front of him into trouble.
Another nice aspect of Pearce’s game is his ability to shine in passing situations when he decides to play as a power rusher. While this might surprise some given James’ lean frame, in my opinion, these are the situations where he truly stands out.
In these situations, he appears both powerful and dominant, and it’s not uncommon to see him move offensive linemen who are significantly stronger and more powerful than him, thanks in particular to a very effective bull rush.
In this paragraph, I also join the next point to highlight about James Pearce, namely his ability to shine when used as a Gap shooter.
Indeed, James is clearly at his best in situations where he’s only responsible for a single gap, allowing him to avoid wasting time or energy battling a blocker while trying to read the play. Put him in a defensive scheme where he can simply attack one gap and, to put it bluntly, cause chaos, and you’ll get a player who can shine far more than if you ask him to make even a basic read that might kill all his momentum.
James Pearce has another quality I didn’t necessarily expect: a solid ability to drop into zone coverage and, more importantly, to react well when a player threatens his area. James moves quite fluidly, doesn’t hesitate to engage with the receiver, and sticks with the threat until it exits his zone. On top of that, he also does a good job of repositioning himself afterward to get back into his coverage.
This is really promising and could enable him to play in teams that play with Odd defensive schemes (with 3 Defensive linemen fronts) as an Outside Linebacker with a bit of work.
Now moving on to the weaknesses—I'll admit I’m quite disappointed with James Pearce’s progression as a technician. Let me explain in this paragraph, which might be a bit long as it covers several of his weaknesses. First off, his ability to bend is, in my opinion, pretty average.
While Pearce can be a threat throughout an entire game, it’s actually quite common to see him just barely miss out on sacks or tackles because he fails to slip out of blocks—largely due to his average bending ability. It’s also not unusual to see him get moved off his rushing lane by powerful tackles when he finds himself in a position where his bend is supposed to take over, but unfortunately, James falls short technically in that aspect.
As I said in the strengths section, it's ultimately his Power Rusher side that impresses, whereas with his physique and qualities, he should shine as a Speed Rusher.
The second point directly related to his technical level is that, despite a clear and pronounced pass rusher role, James is quite frustrating when it comes to the range of pass-rush moves he uses. Watching him play, it’s evident that he lacks variety in the techniques he employs, which is a real shame, especially since he has the potential to use these weapons effectively in his arsenal.
Throughout the season, I’ve seen James use a variety of techniques, including, among others: Bull rush, Push-Pull, Swim move, Rip Move, Club, Long arm, Spin move, Chop move, and, as I mentioned in the strengths, a nice Stutter Step. Despite all these different techniques in his arsenal, when James plays, he uses the same techniques 85% of the time without truly exposing or experimenting with all his possibilities. As a result, he becomes predictable and is not as dangerous as he could be, in my opinion.
Moreover, this persistent feeling of always seeing him execute the same moves in the same manner worries me because it could also suggest that Pearce plays without a clear pass-rush plan in mind. While this isn't necessarily a huge issue, as many prospects have to work on their pass-rush plan once they reach the pros — sometimes starting from scratch — it’s definitely a point to keep in mind when selecting James Pearce.
It's therefore possible to end up with a player who is ultimately more Raw than expected on the aspect of the game that is supposed to be its strength, namely Pass rush.
While James is indeed more of a pass rush specialist, at the moment he's still rather undisciplined as a pass rusher.
Let me explain what I mean by "undisciplined rusher." James rarely hesitates to seize the opportunity to rush when he sees a gap open up in front of him, even though he is responsible for the contain (meaning he must ensure the ball cannot pass outside of him, thus forcing the play back inside where DTs and LBs can help with the tackle. Among the responsibilities of the contain is also preventing the QB from escaping the pocket).
The perfect example of what I’m describing can be seen in the game against Georgia. James costs his team a touchdown on a 3rd and 7 with 5:40 remaining in the 3rd quarter by doing exactly what I’ve mentioned. The B-gap (the space between the guard and the tackle) opens up, and without hesitation, Pearce rushes into it, successfully getting through and forcing Carson Beck out of the pocket. However, since Pearce is responsible for the contain, there’s no one left on the outside, which allows Carson Beck to run for a touchdown.
This will be a point to address in the pros unless Pearce lands in a system where he’s free to do as he pleases as long as he applies pressure. In any case, this will be an important factor to consider in his evaluation.
Still on the subject of Rusher's discipline, Pearce will also have to work on not crunching on QB feints on the snap, as he's been fooled several times this season on a recurring basis.
Finally, to conclude this evaluation, there's one point about James that, for me, is really negative and could make me regret selecting him—his inactivity and total lack of interest in pursuit. It's simple: if the ball ends up 7 yards or more away from him, Pearce doesn't pursue. He doesn’t even try and just jogs along, hoping his teammates will do the job.
This is not something that’s acceptable, and it will never be for me. It becomes even more problematic when you think about how these young players are in a position where they’re trying to showcase their best side in order to be selected and live out their dreams.
To conclude, James Pearce, while being a good football player who has managed to shine at the collegiate level, is still a bit of a disappointment overall this season. I was really expecting to witness the season of explosion for him and to be very honest I remain terribly hungry.
James still has a lot to work on before we can finally see the ultimate version of the player he could be, but the famous Tools so dear to NFL teams are there, iIt's just a matter of getting it to click, because Pearce's size, athletic ability, range of pass rush moves and the ability to place him on the pitch in any system are all there for the taking, but unfortunately they haven't really clicked yet.
So Pearce is still really Raw and there's no guarantee that he'll ever explode. At the moment I have a hard time seeing him as a Day one starter, he'll probably get some playing time on some obvious passing situations but for his development, the franchise he lands in will be paramount.
Personally, I find it hard to see him going in the first round based on what he’s shown this season. However, as I mentioned, he has all the tools NFL teams look for at the position and is still a relatively young player. With these two factors alone, some franchises will likely jump on him early, and if he performs well at the combine, it’s almost certain his name will be called in the first round.
For my part, it's with sadness that I slip it into my Tier 2 and give it an early 2nd round value.
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