ACL tear<\/a>. The group is left with Christian Harris, JD Bertrand, Samson Ebukam, Kendal Daniels and Bralen Trice. The Falcons also added Cameron Sample after Walker\u2019s injury. <\/p>\nAtlanta 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\u2019 pass rush, leading the team with 10 1\/2 sacks during his rookie season.<\/p>\n
Other suspensions<\/p>\n
Pearce was one of four suspensions the NFL handed out on Friday. <\/p>\n
The NFL also suspended 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\u2019s personal conduct policy. He will miss the Commanders season-opening game against Philadelphia on Sept. 13.<\/p>\n
Armstrong opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list, but has since been activated to resume practicing. He was limited to playing seven games last season before tearing a knee ligament.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s entering his ninth NFL season, and third with Washington.<\/p>\n
Johnson was suspended six games for violating the league\u2019s policy on performance-enhancers. Mathis was issued a three-game suspension for violating the league\u2019s 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-player rosters.<\/p>\n
Johnson is eligible to return for the Titans\u2019 home game against Cleveland on Oct. 25. Mathis can return for Buffalo\u2019s 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 appearing in just 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
___<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons edge rusher James Pearce Jr. will be suspended for the first eight games of the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1001378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[6328,400927,8995,400924,400926,12785,84,400922,723,1318,10104,4353,51016,68766,400923,400925,564,8006,11138,9338,96659,1317,1315,1316,405,1232,9341,221068,175958,62,3528,1229,9007,6066,67,132,68,906,534],"class_list":["post-1001377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-bralen-trice","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-cameron-sample","tag-christian-harris","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-dorance-armstrong","tag-florida","tag-football","tag-ga-state-wire","tag-georgia","tag-jalon-walker","tag-james-pearce-jr","tag-jd-bertrand","tag-kendal-daniels","tag-maryland","tag-md-state-wire","tag-micah-parsons","tag-national-football-league","tag-nazeeh-johnson","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-new-york","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-football","tag-phidarian-mathis","tag-samson-ebukam","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-tn-state-wire","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-virginia","tag-washington-commanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1001378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1001377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}