Falcons edge rusher James Pearce Jr. has accepted a fast-track, pre-trial intervention program, his attorney, Yale Sanford, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday.
At the request of the state of Florida, the program has been extended from the originally announced six months to one year. If Pearce completes the program, all charges against him stemming from a February incident with his ex-girlfriend will be dropped.
WNBA player Rickea Jackson, Pearce’s ex-girlfriend, also dismissed her attempt to obtain a permanent restraining order against him. Pearce, though, is still required to stay away from Jackson for the next 12 months until his case is closed.
Pearce was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police and resisting an officer with violence, as well as a misdemeanor count of stalking.
The NFL has not announced the conclusion of a review it was conducting for possible discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy.
The Falcons made Pearce a first-round pick in 2025, and he led the team with 10.5 sacks and set a team rookie record with 45 quarterback pressures.
Falcons quarterback Michael Penix isn’t a full participant in the team’s OTA practices this week, but his recovery from a torn ACL has gone well enough for him to take part in 7-on-7 work at this point in the offseason.
Penix said on Tuesday that he “feels like himself” on the field and that his goal has “always been” to be ready for the team’s season opener in September. Once Penix is cleared for full football activities, Penix will have to beat out Tua Tagovailoa to start against the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
That competition has miles to go and Penix said his focus will be on his road rather than on anything Tagovailoa is doing.
“I’m running my own race,” Penix said, via the team’s website. “I can’t look into another lane. But at the same time, we are working together. That’s what its all about. Working together and working with each other to finish the race.”
It will be hard to get a clear read on where things stand in the Falcons’ competition until Penix is back to full speed and the decision will be the first major one that Kevin Stefanski makes as the head coach in Atlanta.
The Falcons moved into the OTA phase of their offseason workouts this week and that allows them to start doing 11-on-11 work during practice sessions.
Such work will be a significant part of their quarterback decision heading into the fall, but Michael Penix is not quite ready for that step yet. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said at a Tuesday press conference that Penix remains limited to individual and 7-on-7 work as he continues to recover from a torn ACL.
Stefanski also looked ahead to how the competition with Tua Tagovailoa will unfold once Penix is ready to do everything on the practice field.
“Very intentionally,” Stefanski said. “I think it’s our job — I think [offensive coordinator] Tommy Rees does an outstanding job of making sure that we’re intentional about how we want this to operate. One guy will be up first one period and then switch with the next period and rotate every single day and really almost every drill because the truth is we’re trying to get the best version of all of our players, so we want to mix and match guys in different spots.”
It’s unclear if Penix will move up to full team drills when the Falcons will have their mandatory minicamp next month. If he doesn’t, training camp will be the time when the bulk of the head-to-head competition takes place in Atlanta.
One of the most memorable games in Monday Night Football History took place in Week Three of the 2006 season, when the Saints beat the Falcons in their return to New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. Twenty years later, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wanted a Falcons-Saints Monday night game in New Orleans on the 2026 schedule.
NFL VP of broadcasting planning Mike North says the 2026 schedule has a Week Four Monday night game between the Falcons and Saints at the Superdome because Goodell himself requested that it happen around the time of the 20th anniversary.
“It’s really to the Commissioner’s credit, it was, ‘We’re gonna play Falcons at Saints on Monday night this year, fit it in in that kind of three-week window.’ So, it wasn’t a requirement it had to land in a special week, but it was a requirement, straight from the boss, that it landed on our schedule,” North said.
Some in New Orleans wanted the 2026 game played in Week Three, as the 2006 game was, but North said playing the game in Week Four proved to be a better fit for the NFL’s overall schedule.
“Relative to the exact date of the anniversary, honestly, we figured if we were within a couple of weeks, we were in good shape,” North said. “Fans remember that moment, the electricity, the excitement. If we were a week early, or closer to the day, or a week later, weren’t gonna throw away our best schedule just by being off a couple days. Plus, as you know, there’s a lot of events going on in that region. I don’t have the stadium availability off the top of my head, but relative to the Dome itself, the arena across the street, there’s concerts, there’s basketball games, there’s other things going on at times. It wasn’t a, ‘This game has to be in this week.’”
The 2006 game, remembered most for Steve Gleason’s blocked punt that was recovered by Curtis Deloatch for the Saints’ first touchdown, was a classic. The 2026 game will be an opportunity for New Orleans to celebrate that great moment in Saints history.
NFL Network lost its schedule-release show. It’s nevertheless gaining a late-season Saturday doubleheader.
In Week 16, on the day after Christmas, NFLN will televise a game at 4:30 p.m. ET and 8:00 p.m. ET.
The schedule identifies four potential games for the two slots: Buccaneers-Falcons, Bengals-Colts, Commanders-Vikings, and Panthers Steelers.
The decision as to which games will slide from Sunday to Saturday will be made during the season.
Coupled with a Thursday night game and three Christmas Day games, Week 16 will have 10 total windows — one more than Thanksgiving week. That leaves only eight games to be played on the Saturday afternoon windows.
