Falcons draft gamble draws major praise from Raiders' Maxx Crosby

Shane Shoemaker

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Falcons draft gamble draws major praise from Raiders' Maxx Crosby image

Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The 2025 NFL Draft may have ended with most of the conversation still centered on Shedeur Sanders. However, the Atlanta Falcons’ aggressive first-round strategy—making two selections—quickly became the other headline.

The Falcons had been desperate for a pass rush for years. They hadn’t used a first-round pick on defense in four years, and hadn’t seriously addressed the edge position since selecting Vic Beasley in 2015.

This year, Atlanta doubled down. The Falcons used the No. 15 overall pick on Georgia’s Jalon Walker and followed that by trading up to No. 26 to draft Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr.

Depending on the outlet, reviews on the Falcons’ strategy have been mixed. ESPN’s Mel Kiper gave the team a C grade, noting that trading away next year’s first-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams was too steep a price.

However, the Falcons earned strong praise from a fellow edge rusher: Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby.

“Atlanta Falcons... they need pass rush. They need to get after the quarterback,” Crosby said on the Full Send Podcast when asked what excited him about this year’s draft.

“‘We’re going all in. We’re drafting two d-ends in the first round. We don’t give a f---. It’s the two best athletes we think in our opinion.’ They got two young ballers who are going to go in there and develop and hopefully be two bookends for years to come. That’s what they envision in those guys. And both of them, I’ve watched their film—dogs!”

That’s high praise from a fellow pass rusher who has racked up 59.5 sacks so far in his career.

As for the Falcons’ decision to give up their 2026 first-rounder, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer noted in his Monday column that the team wasn’t too concerned about the long-term risk.

“Conceptually, the idea was that if they went up for Pearce, they’d simply be getting next year’s first-rounder a year early, at the cost of knocking their pick on Day 2 down,” Breer wrote.

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Shane Shoemaker

Shane Shoemaker began his career as an editorial writer for ClutchPoints, covering college football, the NFL and MLB. His love for sports took off at age 5, when his dad began taking him all over the country to watch the Atlanta Braves and later, the Miami Hurricanes football team — fueling his passion for experiencing new stadiums. Although a lifelong Tennessean, he remains unaffiliated with local teams, even after writing for Vols Wire. Shane holds a BA in Communications/Journalism from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and never misses a chance to mention the Atlanta Braves’ 2021 World Series win.