FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The dust settled after a pass play in the third practice of the Atlanta Falcons training camp, and rookie edge rusher James Pearce Jr. and left guard Matthew Bergeron were still locked up.
Bergeron had his helmet off and he was screaming disparaging remarks in the face of Pearce. Veteran edge rusher Leonard Floyd came to have Pearce's back. A scuffle ensued between the offense and defense. Bergeron and Pearce were eventually separated.
On the very next play, cooler heads had not yet prevailed. Pearce and right tackle Kaleb McGary got tied up. McGary then took his helmet off and started shouting at Pearce. Once again, Floyd came over. The offense and defense descended upon the potential fisticuffs, but tempers calmed before things got any worse.
"We're trying to develop a culture -- a style of play, for sure -- and part of that is the violence with which we play and aggression, the urgency and all that," Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. "Today, at times, it went a little too far, and we've got to learn how to manage that."
Pearce, the No. 26 overall pick in the draft, was at the center of it all. Other than maybe quarterback Michael Penix Jr., no other player has been more of an attention-getter on the field early in Falcons camp than the 6-foot-5, 243-pound Pearce. Whether it's getting his long arms up to bat down passes, creating havoc coming off the edge or being involved in skirmishes, Pearce has been in the spotlight. That has even extended into the locker room, as Pearce, despite being a rookie, has taken over the music selection at times.
The Falcons aggressively traded back up into the first round -- giving up a 2026 first-round pick -- to draft Pearce. And many of these things, head coach Raheem Morris said, are the reasons why.
"When you talk about rushing the passer, you're talking about some of these great pass rushers that we talk about, whether it's Aaron Donald, whether you're talking about Von Miller, whether you're talking about Warren Sapp or you're talking about Simeon Rice," Morris said. "Any of these guys that have rushed the passer, they've got a little bit of edge, and part of our whole draft, part of our whole philosophy, part of our practice, part of us becoming a team that we want to be and going out and actually doing some of these things is acquiring players with some natural edge."
Morris could do without fights rising to an unnecessary level. The Falcons missed reps after those skirmishes with the coaches having to call off practice early. But he doesn't mind Pearce getting under the skin of the offensive line on these hot Georgia summer days, as long as he's harnessing that aggressiveness in a positive way.
The Pearce draft pick after already taking edge rusher Jalon Walker at No. 15 was a controversial one, because of the price tag and the knocks on Pearce coming in. They weren't about his play -- he was one of the best pass rushers in the nation at Tennessee for two seasons. The red flags were about his character, his maturity. There were questions about his motivation and love for football.
It seems like Pearce has come into camp with a chip on his shoulder after those doubts surfaced.
"I think it's come with the love of the game of football," Pearce said when asked about his assertiveness starting camp. "Just the passion for it. Just an aggressive game, a physical game."
Pearce said he squashed the beefs with Bergeron and McGary afterward, which Bergeron confirmed.
"He's disruptive, he's great," Bergeron said. "I feel like he's going to help us win games, and obviously when you have a bunch of passionate players, things like that happen."
It would be one thing if Pearce is just out there starting fights. But in 11-on-11 work, Pearce has been one of the best players on defense. It appears like he's going 100% on every rep, gets pressure on the quarterback regularly, has a handful of sacks and two big batted down passes in just over a week of practice.
Pearce, 21, knocked down a pass from quarterback Kirk Cousins on a screen during one practice, and Cousins pulled him aside to compliment him on it.
"I just told him I thought it was a great play and asked him how quickly he was able to diagnose it and if he felt like he knew it was coming or if he is just a really good athlete," Cousins said. "I thought I could have maybe snuck the ball around him, but I think when you're a great athlete you make that harder.
"He's a guy that I'd like to keep kind of dialoging with and see if he can't help us quite a bit right away this year."
Ulbrich is in his first year as Falcons defensive coordinator after Jimmy Lake was dismissed after just one season. Ulbrich, the former New York Jets interim head coach and defensive coordinator, is trying to bring a new culture of intensity to a defense that struggled both against the pass and run in 2024.
Pearce has become part of that. Ulbrich said Pearce got a bit "wacky" in maybe losing his cool in those situations with McGary and Bergeron and he'll learn from them. But what stood out to Ulbrich is how Pearce played after those confrontations.
"A lot of young guys, after a moment of real anger or frustration and getting out of whack, they're lost for practice, and he was the opposite," Ulbrich said. "It was like he reset, he came back, took a deep breath, and I think he made three or four really amazing plays after the fact. So, it's promising."
McGary said Pearce has "ton of physical talent," but like many rookies "a lot to learn." He said both Pearce and Walker, who has been out with a hamstring injury, could have bright futures in the league, and it's "not their fault" that they're still young and inexperienced at this level.
"Tensions are high, it's camp," McGary said. "Also, don't grab my face mask and start pulling on it for no reason. Just takes time. ... None of us show up knowing everything."
Penix referred to Pearce as a "baller" who is "going to make a lot of plays for us."
Pearce, apparently, has already made a play for the locker-room stereo system. Safety Jessie Bates III, one of the team captains, said Pearce has not been shy away from the field, as well.
"A lot of times rookies are kind of hesitant to touch the aux cord and stuff like that," Bates said with a laugh. "James is right there, he wants to play music. He's voicing what he's thinking and then he goes out there and he practices hard as hell.
"So, you can respect that from a young guy and just learning who he is and he's just being himself and that's all we ask. Just be yourself and be that same guy every single day."