Ad Disclosure
James Pearce Jr. did his best to stabilize his falling draft stock during Day 1 of the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
Pearce led all defensive linemen with a 4.47-second 40-yard dash. In fact, his time was a full tenth-of-a-second faster than any other defensive lineman who run the 40-yard dash on Thursday.
Here’s a clip from his 2nd run in Indy:
Here’s the 40-yard dash leaderboard amongst defensive linemen:
Pearce’s big day at the NFL Combine is a big plus for his draft stock, which has been in free-fall in recent weeks and months. After entering the year as a potential No. 1 overall pick, Pearce is not considered to be a lock for the 1st round of the 2025 draft at this stage.
Earlier this week, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. released a 1st-round mock draft that did not include Pearce. Kiper previously spoke about Pearce’s draft stock and why he feels uncertain about the former Tennessee star going into this draft.
“James Pearce Jr., I don’t have a good handle on,” Kiper said on the First Draft podcast earlier this month. “He’ll be one of those handful of players I think we could all say we just don’t get, we just don’t understand and we can’t really be confident – hey, you can be confident and still be right or wrong. You can be wrong on that, too, but with James Pearce Jr., I have not really had a good grasp on where he belongs in terms of the 1st round of this draft.”
Pearce is looking to become the 1st Tennessee 1st-round draft pick on defense since Derek Barnett in 2017.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
