Packer Central

Pass Rusher with ‘Ton of Juice’ Had NFL Draft Visit with Packers

Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr. is one of the top pass rushers in the draft but doesn’t fit the Green Bay Packers’ usual mold.

Jacob Westendorf

Tennessee defensive lineman James Pearce at the Scouting Combine.
Tennessee defensive lineman James Pearce at the Scouting Combine. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The Green Bay Packers need a pass rusher, you say?

Brian Gutekunst agreed in word.

“We’ve got to be able to get after the quarterback with four,” Gutekunst said at the Scouting Combine. “We’ve got to affect the quarterback more with just four players.”

As it would appear through the early portion of their NFL Draft visits that Gutekunst also is agreeing in deed.

Texas A&M’s athletic marvel, Shemar Stewart, was in Green Bay on Wednesday.

According to Packer Report, the Packers will be hosting Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce Jr. A source told Packers On SI on Friday that the visit had already taken place.

Pearce Jr. is an interesting case for Green Bay’s defensive end room and defensive philosophy. There’s no question Gutekunst has a type on the edge. He prefers his pass rushers to be big and bulky.

“You love those guys that can scream off the edge and come in on third down and that’s all they play, and they play your 20 snaps a game tops but they’re very effective,” Gutekunst said at the Combine.

“What happens is, when injuries hit and they got to play more, how does that affect them? One, can they make it through a season going against 320-pound guys, and then when you do have injuries and you need him to play 50 snaps, can he?”

Gutekunst spent premium capital on Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, Preston Smith and Za’Darius Smith. All of them are big and win with power.

Pearce would be drastically different. At the Scouting Combine, he measured 6-foot-5 but weighed 245 pounds.

He wins with speed. His ability to win and bend the edge is something that the Packers could use, in theory, with as many big guys as they have on the outside.

"There’s room for those kind of guys,” Gutekunst added. “I just think you’ve got to be creative, from a roster-management piece, how you use those guys."

That management is something the Packers would have to monitor with Pearce.

No different than Gary and Van Ness, Pearce would not be a small investment. His speed, athleticism and production are expected to make him a first-round draft pick.

Pearce isn’t a freaky size-speed prospect like Stewart, but he’s an elite athlete with 4.47 speed in the 40.

Pearce, a top-15 prospect coming out of high school, played three seasons for the Volunteers. In 2023, he led the SEC with 10 sacks and contributed 15 tackles for losses. In 2024, he had 7.5 sacks and 10 TFLs. He was first-team all-SEC both seasons.

That production, combined with his athleticism, is something that could be tempting for Gutekunst.

“He could go in the top 15,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said in a conference call. “He could go bottom of 1; he could go top of 2. There’s a wide range on him. He’s a lean, skinny rusher, but he has a ton of juice and explosiveness. He really knows how to rush. His first three steps are pretty dynamic.”

Teams like “everything” about his game, Pearce said.

“On my tape, there’s not much that you can dislike,” he said at the Volunteers’ pro day on March 12. “I can be a little better with my hands and there’s always a place to grow in your game, but I haven’t gotten too many dislikes.”

Production has never been a requirement for some of Green Bay’s first-round picks. Van Ness was not a starter at Iowa. Gary did not have the sack production of Florida State’s Brian Burns, who was taken four selections after Gary.

One other thing to note with Pearce, and one potential reason for the visit, is Pearce was arrested in 2023 for disobeying orders from the police after being stopped for driving on a suspended license and speeding. Those charges were dropped.

At pro day, Pearce said he hopes teams learn, “That I’m a great guy, a great teammate, great player, people person and that I have a good heart.”

The Packers have typically done their homework on players with legal questions. One example is Devonte Wyatt, who had a domestic violence charge during his time at Georgia. The Packers hosted Wyatt for a predraft visit before making him the 28th pick of the 2022 NFL Draft.

If the Packers are comfortable with how Pearce Jr. has matured, he could be the pass rusher that Gutekunst breaks some of his mold for to add some juice to a pass rush that he wants to control things at the end of games.

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Jacob Westendorf
JACOB WESTENDORF