ATLANTA (AP) — Following the arrest of James Pearce Jr. on Saturday night, the Atlanta Falcons face troubling questions about the standout rookie's immediate and long-term future with the team.
For at least the 2026 season, Pearce's status could be jeopardized by serious legal problems. Pearce was arrested near Miami after fleeing officers and then crashing his car following what police said was a domestic dispute with WNBA player Rickea Jackson.
According to the jail website, Pearce remained jailed Sunday in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and was facing several charges, including two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon as well as aggravated stalking and fleeing or eluding police.
Pearce’s arrest came after Doral police were summoned to investigate a reported domestic dispute between a man and a woman.
WPLG-TV in Miami reported that Doral Police Chief Edwin Lopez confirmed the dispute was between Pearce and Jackson, a forward for the Los Angeles Sparks.
The charges may force the Falcons to consider if Pearce should have a role on the team even after addressing his legal problems. It would not be an easy decision after Pearce set a Falcons rookie record with a team-leading 10 1/2 sacks.
The Falcons traded their 2026 first-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Rams to select Pearce last year with the No. 26 overall pick.
It was an especially notable draft investment after Atlanta chose Georgia linebacker and edge rusher Jalon Walker at No. 15 last year. The Falcons doubled down on their commitment to improve their pass rush by drafting Pearce, the former Tennessee star.
Even though an 8-9 finish left Atlanta with its eighth consecutive losing season, the pass rush was dramatically improved. Led by Pearce, the Falcons set a team record with 57 sacks, one year after finishing next to last in the league with 31.
Despite closing the season with four straight wins, the losing record led to the firings of coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot. The team's new leadership — coach Kevin Stefanski, general manager Ian Cunningham and president of football Matt Ryan — now face an offseason made more difficult by Pearce's arrest.
The Falcons already faced some tough decisions, including the possible release of veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins despite starter Michael Penix Jr.'s uncertain status for the start of the season as he recovers from a knee injury.
Stefanski said recently he already had talked with defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich about having Pearce and Walker together next season.
“Very, very talented young men, excited to coach both of them,” Stefanski said. “Obviously, I’ve talked to (Ulbrich) about those guys in particular and how we can deploy them.”
The Falcons said in a statement on Saturday night they were aware of Pearce's arrest.
“We are in the process of gathering more information and will not have any further comment on an open legal matter at this time,” the Falcons said.
There was much speculation that concerns about Pearce's character and commitment to football caused him to drop in last year's draft. He had been mentioned as Atlanta's possible choice at the No. 15 spot used to select Walker. Instead, he was still available late in the first round.
Morris said at the end of the season that the decision to trade the 2026 first-round pick for Pearce was agreed on by all the team's leadership, including owner Arthur Blank.
“I thought it was something that was very unique to be able to have a relationship with the general manager, with the owner, to be able to have those conversations, to be able to put yourself in a position to do those things,” Morris said. “All decisions you make, they’re always hard, they are always tough, and they’re all going to be heavily criticized.”
Morris said Pearce's production made the decision look good.
“It sure is nice when a guy comes out and performs like you think he’s capable of doing,” Morris said. “So for James to come out here and get better and better throughout the course of the season, be able to finish with 10 1/2 sacks, arguably the rookie of the year ... I can’t say enough about him.”
Following the first round last year, Fontenot was asked about the off-field questions surrounding Pearce that caused apparent concern from other teams. Fontenot said his staff and coaches “were about as thorough and detailed as you can possibly be” when doing their research on Pearce, including talking with “everybody that’s surrounded with him."
"It was truly an exhaustive process and that’s what makes us feel good about our culture and everything we are. But that’s important, we always talk about intangibles and we want to bring in guys that love ball and love to compete and as we build this roster the right way, and we spent a lot of time with him, making sure that that he was going to fit.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
FILE - Los Angeles Sparks forward Rickea Jackson (2) dribbles during the first half of a WNBA basketball game on Aug. 29, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong, File)
FILE - Atlanta Falcons linebacker James Pearce Jr. (27) is interviewed after an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, on Jan. 4, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik, File)
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn 's defiant bid to win the Winter Olympic downhill at the age of 41, on a rebuilt right knee and a badly injured left knee, ended Sunday in a frightening crash that left her with a broken leg and saw her taken to safety by a rescue helicopter for the second time in nine days.
Vonn lost control within moments of leaving the start house, clipping a gate with her right shoulder and pinwheeling down the slope before ending up awkwardly on her back, her skis crisscrossed below her and her screams ringing out soon after medical personnel arrived. She was treated for long, anguished minutes as a hush fell over the crowd waiting far below at the finish line.
She was strapped to a gurney and flown away, possibly ending the skier's storied career. She was taken to a clinic in Cortina, then transferred to a larger hospital in Treviso, a two-hour drive to the south.
She was being “treated by a multidisciplinary team” and “underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg,” the Ca’ Foncello hospital said in a statement. The U.S. Ski Team said Vonn was "in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians.”
“She’ll be OK, but it’s going to be a bit of a process,” said Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “This sport’s brutal and people need to remember when they’re watching (that) these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going really, really fast.”
Breezy Johnson, Vonn's teammate, became only the second American woman to win the Olympic downhill after Vonn did it 16 years ago. The 30-year-old Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italy’s Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for the team.
“I don’t claim to know what she’s going through, but I do know what it is to be here, to be fighting for the Olympics, and to have this course burn you and to watch those dreams die," said Johnson, whose injury in Cortina in 2022 ruined her hopes of sking in the Beijing Olympics. “I can’t imagine the pain that she’s going through and it’s not the physical pain — we can deal with physical pain — but the emotional pain is something else.”
Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated after just 13 seconds on the course where she holds a record 12 World Cup titles. Others in the crowd, including rapper Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course. Fellow American star Mikaela Shiffrin posted a broken heart emoji on social media.
Vonn’s crash was “tragic, but it’s ski racing," said Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
“I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport,” he said, “because this race has been the talk of the games and it’s put our sport in the best possible light.”
All eyes had been on Vonn, the feel-good story heading into the Olympics. She returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years, a remarkable decision given her age but she also had a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee, too. Many wondered how she would fare as she sought a gold medal to join the one she won in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
The four-time overall World Cup champion stunned everyone by being a contender almost immediately. She came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland nine days ago, when she suffered her latest knee injury. In addition to a ruptured ACL, she also had a bone bruise and meniscus damage.
Still, no one counted her out even then. In truth, she has skied through injuries for three decades at the top of the sport. In 2006, ahead of the Turin Olympics, Vonn took a bad fall during downhill training and went to the hospital. She competed less than 48 hours later, racing in all four events she’d planned, with a top result of seventh in the super-G.
Cortina has had many treasured memories for Vonn beyond the record wins. She is called the queen of Cortina, and the Olympia delle Tofana is a course that had always suited Vonn. She tested out the knee twice in downill training runs over the past three days before the awful crash on Sunday in clear, sunny conditions.
“This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far,” Vonn said before the race. “Definitely the most dramatic.”
The drama was of a different sort this time. Not since perhaps Hermann Maier’s cartwheeling crash at the 1998 Nagano Games had there been such a high-profile and spectacular fall in Alpine skiing at the Olympics.
“Dear Lindsey, we’re all thinking of you. You are an incredible inspiration, and will always be an Olympic champion,” International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry said.
News of the crash spread quickly, including to the fan zone down the mountain in Cortina.
“It’s such a huge loss and bummer," American Megan Gunyou said. “I feel like hearing her story and just like the redemption of her first fall and like fighting to come back to the Olympics this year, I mean, I feel so sad for her.”
Dan Wilton of Vancouver, Canada, watched the race from the stands.
“It was frightening,” he said. “Really, your heart goes out for such a champion who is coming to the end of her career. Everyone wanted a successful finish.”
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
This combination of images shows the United States' Lindsey Vonn crashing during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
United States' Lindsey Vonn crashes during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
United States' Lindsey Vonn is airlifted away after a crash during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A rescue helicopter arrives after United States' Lindsey Vonn crashed during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Spectators react after United States' Lindsey Vonn crashed during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
United States' Lindsey Vonn crashes during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Spectators react after United States' Lindsey Vonn crashed during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
United States' Lindsey Vonn crashes during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
United States' Lindsey Vonn's crash is seen on a giant screen at the finish area of an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
United States' Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's downhill official training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
United States' Lindsey Vonn races in an alpine ski women's downhill training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
United States' Lindsey Vonn's aunt Lisa Krohn, right, is seen at the finish area of an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
United States' Lindsey Vonn concentrates ahead of an alpine ski, women's downhill official training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
