By Cooper Girolamo
This April, defense will be many teams’ top priority with their draft picks. Wanting to bolster their defense with their first-round pick as best they can. What better way to do this than get a big, mean, monster of an edge rusher. There are many great ones in the draft, like top overall prospect Abdul Carter along with other beasts like James Pearce Jr. and Mike Green. All guys who can impact winning at the next level immediately. Here is where their dream fits would be come April.
Carter out of Penn State is the consensus best prospect in the entire draft and one of the best edge rushers scouts have seen come out of college in a long time. His lateral movement, speed, and quickness give offensive linemen and quarterbacks nightmares. He is 6-3, 250 lbs. and was a game-wrecker for the Nittany Lions recording 68 tackles, 12 sacks and two forced fumbles this past season. He was a big reason as to why the Nittany Lions made the college football semi-finals. The lone problem with Carter is that it was recently revealed that he has a foot injury, but luckily it doesn’t require surgery and he should be ready to go on day one.
Most mock drafts have Carter going No. 1 overall to the Tennessee Titans. While I think that is a very realistic possibility, his dream fit comes one pick later with the Cleveland Browns. While the Browns have a lot of holes on their team and are seemingly far from contending, they’d be adding a second pass rushing edge alongside one of the league’s best pass rushers in Myles Garrett. The Browns have bigger problems they need to fix, but I don’t think they can pass-up on the opportunity to have easily the best pass-rushing duo in the league. They would give opposing quarterbacks fits with very minimal time to throw the ball. Adding Carter would be an absolute game changer.
James Pearce Jr. out of Tennessee was the consensus No. 1 pick a year ago after the 2024 draft. After a little bit of a down year and some behavioral issues he has slipped a little, but it still an absolute specimen. He is 6-5, 240 lbs. and wreaked havoc on top SEC offensive lineman every game. Last year with the Volunteers he had eight sacks, 38 tackles and a forced fumble. The team that I think is the perfect fit for Pearce is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers were in the bottom half of the league last season in pass rush and Pearce would certainly help them improve on that. They need to address the defensive side of the ball and Pearce makes perfect sense with their first-round pick. The main problem scouts see with Pearce is not his play but rather his effort and character concerns. I think Todd Bowles, the head coach of the Buccaneers, will get him straightened out and playing his heart out very quickly. Bowles is known for dealing with players who have character concerns very well and getting them to play at a very high level, making the Buccaneers and Pearce a match made in heaven.
The last edge rusher I will mention and maybe the most slept on player in the entire draft is Mike Green, the edge out of Marshall University. He is a perfect fit for the Atlanta Falcons who are in dire need of some pass rush help. Green – at 6-3, 240 lbs. – had 81 tackles, three forced fumbles and a staggering 17 sacks this past season. He relentlessly imposed fear into the other team’s backfield and the Falcons would love to add that to their front seven. Atlanta has addressed a skill position offensive player with their first pick in the last four drafts and I think it is finally time for them to stop improving their offense and finally bolster their defense. Green is the first step in doing that. The Falcons ranked 23rd in pass rush last season and after releasing their top pass rusher, Grady Jarrett, they would love the addition of Green and he could make an immediate impact from Day 1. The biggest concern with Green is that he didn’t play top competition like some of the other players at his position. I think Raheem Morris is not too worried about that and will turn Green into one of the leagues most feared players very quickly.
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