Atlanta Falcons edge rusher James Pearce Jr. will be suspended for the first eight games of the season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, the league announced Friday.<\/p>\n
Pearce was arrested in February following a domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend, WNBA player\u00a0Rickea Jackson. The incident took place in Doral, Florida.<\/p>\n
Pearce’s charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing police and resisting arrest, and misdemeanor stalking could be dropped if he cooperates in a pretrial intervention program requiring random drug tests, distance from Jackson and staying out of legal trouble for one year.<\/p>\n
Pearce will be available to participate in preseason games and all\u00a0team activities\u00a0until the suspension takes effect on Aug. 30.<\/p>\n
The second-year defensive end can be reinstated on Nov. 2, following Atlanta’s Week 8 game at Tampa Bay. The Falcons will travel to Madrid to play the Cincinnati Bengals the following week.<\/p>\n
The Falcons’ pass rush has taken a hit recently following Jalon Walker’s season-ending\u00a0ACL tear. The group is left with Christian Harris, JD Bertrand, Samson Ebukam, Kendal Daniels and Bralen Trice. The Falcons also added Cameron Sample after Walker’s injury.<\/p>\n
Atlanta traded back to the No. 26 pick in the first round of the 2025 draft to select Pearce. The former Tennessee Volunteer has played a substantial role in transforming the Falcons’ pass rush, leading the team with 10 1\/2 sacks during his rookie season.<\/p>\n
Other suspensions<\/p>\n
Pearce was one players suspended on Friday.<\/p>\n
The NFL also suspended Washington Commanders edge rusher Dorance Armstrong, Tennessee Titans safety Nazeeh Johnson and Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis.<\/p>\n
Armstrong was suspended one game for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. He will miss the Commanders’ season opener against Philadelphia on Sept. 13.<\/p>\n
Armstrong opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list, but has since been activated. He was limited to playing seven games last season before tearing a knee ligament.<\/p>\n
He’s entering his ninth NFL season and third with Washington.<\/p>\n
Johnson was suspended six games for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancers. Mathis was issued a three-game suspension for violating the league’s substances of abuse policy.<\/p>\n
Under league rules, the players are allowed to practice and play with their respective teams through Aug. 30, when NFL teams are required to set their 53-man rosters.<\/p>\n
Johnson is eligible to return for the Titans’ home game against Cleveland on Oct. 25. Mathis can return for Buffalo’s home game against New England on Oct. 4.<\/p>\n
Johnson has three previous seasons of NFL experience, all with the Kansas City Chiefs, and signed with the Titans on July 27, just before the opening of training camp.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old had six starts in 29 NFL games with the Chiefs since being selected by Kansas City in the seventh round of the 2022 draft. A shoulder injury limited Johnson to two games last season. He also missed the entire 2023 season with a torn ACL in his right knee.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old Mathis appeared in six games with the Bills last season. He spent his first three NFL seasons appearing in 23 games with Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons edge rusher James Pearce Jr. will be suspended for the first eight games of the season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-858576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}