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The Atlanta Falcons are currently gearing up for mandatory minicamp as the 2026 NFL offseason continues. One of the major storylines hovering over the team this year has been the legal issues of James Pearce Jr., who was arrested in February on a slew of charges involving then-girlfriend and WNBA star Rickea Jackson.
While Pearce has reportedly been approved for a pretrial diversion program that would result in all charges being dropped, he is not expected to appear at minicamp this week, per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.
Predictably, Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski continued to sidestep questions about Pearce’s legal battle during his latest media availability.
“I’ll deal with next week next week,” said Stefanski, per Josh Kendall of The Athletic on X, formerly Twitter.
Jackson has also since dropped a restraining order on Pearce and agreed to the pretrial diversion program, which would take one year to complete.
Of course, even if the legal situation plays out as favorably for Pearce as possible, he is still facing a potential lengthy suspension from the NFL whenever he does return to the field, which could keep him sidelined for some or all of an upcoming season.
Last year, Pearce had an excellent rookie year for the Falcons, more than justifying the team’s decision to give up this year’s first round draft pick to be able to select him. In 2025, Atlanta had a decent pass rush for the first time seemingly in forever, and the play of the standout rookie was a large part of the reason why.
However, the February arrest and ensuing fallout hung a major cloud over that potential, and it remains to be seen how the legal process will play out.
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