Meet Xavier Watts, Falcons' 3rd-Round Pick Who's 'One Hell of a Kid'

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga.

-- On perhaps the biggest night of his life, 23-year-old Xavier Watts started playing pool at the Blackstone District in Omaha, Neb.

Back in his hometown and surrounded by approximately 150 of his closest friends, family members and coaches, Watts sought ways to keep himself busy.

The former Notre Dame standout expected April 25, the second day of the 2025 NFL draft, to be a short wait and long celebration -- he thought he'd go between slots 40 and 65.

But as picks kept flying and pool shots kept falling, anxiety grew.

One phone call from Atlanta Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot just shy of 10 p.m.

central time changed that.

The Falcons, who hadn't made a pick all night, traded up five spots in the third round to draft Watts with the 96th pick.

"I just happened to be looking at him when he got the call," Paul Limongi, Watts's coach at Harry A.

Burke High School, told Atlanta Falcons on SI.

"And you could tell there was a big relief off his shoulders.

He was extremely excited." A once-in-a-lifetime experience warrants a once-in-a-lifetime reaction.

Watts's emotions weren't that, but the swinging pendulum hardly depicts the character of a person who's already earned the nickname "Ice" by Falcons coaches for his composure.

And his calm, collected presence is far from a first-impression facade.

The Falcons Podcast: Spotify | Apple Pods | iHeart As he described the emotions of the night his dreams came true and the call that changed his life, Watts sported a white T-shirt, gold chain and deadpan expression.

For the previous four hours, he'd ridden an emotional rollercoaster.

Suddenly, he was back to the status quo: internal equilibrium.

"That's who he is," Notre Dame secondary coach Mike Mickens told Atlanta Falcons on SI.

"He ain't going to get rattled.

He's just a straight-laced guy that goes out there, and he's so consistent in who he is as a person and as a football player that you know what you're going to get every day with him." Mickens didn't work hands-on with Watts until 2024, but the qualities he saw throughout the Fighting Irish's run to the College Football Playoff Championship game date back to Omaha.

From the moment Limongi first coached Watts as a freshman in 2016, he starred off the field -- something Limongi credits to Watts's parents, Jeff and Fallon.

"He is a tremendous high character," Limongi said.

"Ever since we knew him, he was very polite, very respectful, always did the right things off the field, treated people well, always put academics first, cared about others, very unassuming, very humble and very likable.

People (are) just drawn to him." The Falcons didn't spend much time with Watts during the pre-draft process.

The two sides had a formal meeting at the NFL combine, where Watts impressed Falcons head coach Raheem Morris with his intelligence.

Morris cross-checked with others who knew Watts, including 13-year NFL safety Ryan Clark, whose son, Jordan, shared a secondary with Watts in 2024.

Morris continually heard high praise.

Those in Omaha do, too.

Watts has an illustrious high school resume.

He made the game-winning catch to seal Omaha Burke's first ever state championship in 2018.

He eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards the year after while intercepting three passes and two returning two for touchdowns.

He racked up awards from local television networks.

He was also a standout basketball player and track athlete.

But when Limongi talks about Watts with others, he always starts away from sports.

"Without question, just because he's such a great kid," Limongi said.

"He graduated from Notre Dame in three years, and he's always wanting to help others.

He's so humble and just always does the right thing.

He's never been in any type of trouble.

He's just a good, good quality person.

And you take that in the account of being an exceptional athlete.

"He's just one hell of a kid.

He's very easy to root for." At Notre Dame, players vote for team captains.

Watts was one of five selected in 2024.

"You have to be the special of the special," Mickens said.

"And that's who he is.

He's a guy that guys want to follow." Watts often visited Mickens's office in Notre Dame's facility.

They'd talk about football, but they'd also hang out and wander into side topics, such as Watts's love of movies.

He's not a complicated individual, Mickens said.

But Watts also isn't loud.

He's a lead-by-example person, and he's proficient at it.

"What you notice with him is guys gravitate towards him," Mickens said.

"And he started leading in his own way of pulling them to a side.

He's just a special guy, and once you really get to know him, everybody loves him." Before Omaha Burke won its state title, it trailed by 11 points at halftime.

Watts scored a pair of second-half touchdowns to rally the Bulldogs to a 24-20 victory, ending his junior year -- and second as a full-time, two-way starter -- with perfection.

The moment wasn't too big.

"Anytime we needed a big play, it seemed like he was the one making it," Limongi said.

"He's a big play guy, and the bigger the game, the bigger he played.

And he was just one of those guys that when the lights came on, he was ready to go." But Watts also shined when the lights didn't.

Watts went from junior varsity to varsity early in his freshman season.

On the practice field, he battled several of Burke's older and accomplished wide receivers in one-on-one drills.

He didn't flinch.

"He was breaking up passes and intercepting passes," Limongi said.

"We knew this kid was going to be something special." Watts parlayed his practice success into early reps as a defensive back -- but Limongi believes Watts saw himself as a receiver at the beginning of his career.

Watts started on both sides of the ball for his final three years of high school, and he generated split interest from colleges on his next-level position.

Most outlets graded Watts as a receiver, and he had the tools and production to justify it.

"He was just extremely smart, savvy, great route runner, super hands," Limongi said.

"Everything that came his way, he caught.

He's fast, he's quick.

Just always found a way to get open.

And when he caught it, he was a great runner with the football.

I mean, he was hard to bring down.

He had the speed to take it and score.

"He was an instant playmaker." Notre Dame went in open-minded with Watts's future but ultimately started him on offense.

He played in two games and saw 16 total offensive snaps as a true freshman in 2020, according to Pro Football Focus .

But due to a combination of injury attrition and Notre Dame's staff wanting to get Watts on the field, he moved to defense during the 2021 season.

He then cross-trained at receiver in the summer of 2022 as the Fighting Irish's depth chart thinned.

The experience, he said, was difficult, even with a past rooted in two-way versatility.

Switching over in college was a little bit different.

It's a lot higher attention to detail, and then you're playing on a higher level, so just bouncing back and forth was a little bit difficult," Watts said.

"But it all worked out in the end.

Notre Dame settled on playing Watts at safety during the 2022 season.

He never looked back.

The question wasn't about talent, but usage.

Mickens knew immediately when Watts transitioned from receiver to safety that he had the ability to play defensively.

But it took Notre Dame's staff time -- a year or two, Mickens said -- to decipher Watts's niche and role.

Eventually, the proverbial car shifted into gear, and it didn't come to a stop until Watts collected a pair of consensus All-American honors.

"What you knew about him is he could open field tackle (and) he could find the ball," Mickens said.

"What you noticed the last couple years is he took those abilities and ran with it.

And then his instincts are very, very elite.

So, the game started really slowing down for him, and then he started making play after play after play." Watts attributes his playmaking reputation to one simple fact: He's a ball player.

See ball, catch ball.

He started it in Omaha.

He continued it at Notre Dame, where he played learned linebacker, nickel corner and safety while learning each level of the defense.

In layman's terms, Watts has an elite feel for the game.

He always has.

"He just had a knack for knowing where the ball was going," Limongi said.

"He was so savvy and intelligent, he just kind of had that sixth sense of anticipating where the quarterback was going, and nine times out of 10, he was right." The Falcons saw the same thing on film.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said it doesn't take a mastermind to reach the conclusion.

"He has this amazing -- he understands defense from a conceptual level, where he knows from tip to tip everything that's going on," Ulbrich said.

"You can feel it.

You can sense it, even if you don't know football, you can feel it because he's got anticipatory stuff that is elite." The result is a shiny No.

13 -- Watts's final interception tally.

Instincts are a key part of it.

So is Watts's receiver background, which equips him with the hands and ball skills to finish plays when the opportunity presents itself.

"It is rare," Mickens said.

"I mean, he has an elite trait for it.

Not only knows how to get the interceptions, but he knows how to force fumbles, as well.

That's what makes him special -- he can take the ball away from you both ways.

"You put that together with his covering skills and the deep half post and open field tackling -- the reason why I think he's so special." The ball often found Watts at Notre Dame.

He tied for the FBS lead with seven interceptions in 2023 en route to winning the Nagurski Trophy, which is given annually to the nation's top defender.

Yet he returned to school because he felt he had more to gain and wanted to grow his game.

Mickens believes Watts took his game to another level in 2024.

He finished tied for second in the FBS with six interceptions, was the Sugar Bowl Defensive MVP in a playoff victory over Georgia and earned first-team AP All-American honors for the second consecutive season.

The only other player to earn consensus All-American honors in both 2023 and 2024 is Colorado's Travis Hunter, who was drafted No.

2 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Watts went 94 picks later.

Mickens expects Watts to significantly outplay his draft slot.

Soon.

For reasons he's already proven.

"To me, he's a great player -- I think he's a first-round grade," Mickens said.

"That's just me.

But what I do know is he's a Day 1 starter and he's going to make a lot of plays.

He just has a knack for the ball." When Ulbrich began assembling clusters for the Falcons' realistic safety targets, he didn't include Watts.

Ulbrich viewed the third and fourth rounds as the sweet spot for the safety class, and he graded Watts as a second-round pick.

"I thought he was going to be long gone," Ulbrich said.

"If we had had our second, he would have definitely, I thought, been part of that conversation." The Falcons dealt their second-round pick at No.

46 overall -- directly in the range Watts initially expected to go in -- to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for the 26th pick in the first round, which they used to select Tennessee pass rusher James Pearce Jr.

Subsequently, Ulbrich thought Watts was out of the conversation for Atlanta.

An improbable draft-day slide proved him wrong.

And for as long as Watts's wait certainly felt, the Falcons shared his impatience.

Fontenot, who's now traded up five times in as many drafts, ultimately couldn't sit around any longer.

Atlanta expected a run on safeties.

Ulbrich thought the Las Vegas Raiders, who owned picks 98 and 99, and the San Francisco 49ers, who had No.

100, were threats to take Watts.

The Falcons moved up from No.

101 to 96 to beat them to it.

Ulbrich characterized Watts as an excellent player, but quickly lauded his character and the impact he'll have on the Falcons' locker room.

Fontenot used a bevy of other buzz words now commonly tied to Watts's portfolio.

"We all like him," Fontenot said.

"Start with the makeup -- outstanding character, serious worker, competitor, high-end instincts, former receiver, ball hawk, more picks than anybody in college football last two years.

So, this guy's a stud, versatile, all those things.

So, we're very excited." After drafting Watts, Fontenot opened his phone to a text from Manti Te'o, who starred at Notre Dame from 2009-12 and later played with the New Orleans Saints during Fontenot's time in the team's front office.

"Absolute stud," Te'o texted.

Coaches usually shy away from comparing draft picks to other players, be it to measure expectations or allow the newcomer to form his own image.

Ulbrich didn't hesitate on Watts.

"A really cool player, and a very similar player I would have said to when I evaluated Jessie (Bates III) coming out," Ulbrich said.

"Guys that play the neck up elitely.

He's an exciting one.

Bates, the Falcons' two-time second-team All-Pro safety, was a second-round pick in 2018.

The 6'1", 210-pounder has 24 interceptions in that span, the fifth-most in the NFL, and has 10 of Atlanta's 20 interceptions over the past two seasons.

It's a lofty comparison -- but the 6'0", 203-pound Watts isn't one to shy away from pressure.

"Jessie Bates is a player I model my game after," Watts said.

"I just think we're very similar.

We're similar in size.

He gets the ball.

He's a playmaker.

He can tackle well.

So, I feel like we're very similar in all aspects of the game of football." Morris echoed the comparison when discussing the traits that netted Watts's 13 interceptions: Instincts, ball skills and anticipation.

"Hes very instinctual like Jessie Bates," Morris said.

"Hes not afraid to take those shots and take those chances when necessary.

Definitely sees the ball off light and come out the quarterback's hands and do some of those things really well.

"Ball skills and ball awareness is what you kind of talk about.

This guy has both ball skills and ball awareness, and I think they're at a really high level." The Falcons identified Watts's similarities to Bates during the pre-draft process, and assistant general manager Kyle Smith acknowledged the comparison added to the appeal of Watts as a result.

Bates aside, Atlanta found Watts to be a clean evaluation.

Smith said Watts played exactly how the Falcons envision their defense playing.

Watts defended the post, covered tight ends and spent time in the box.

There's no projection required -- he's already done everything the Falcons will ask him to do.

"The cool thing about him (is) he's versatile," Fontenot said.

"He can tackle, he can come up and play the run, again, highly instinctive.

He takes the ball away, he can cover, he's a versatile player.

So sometimes you label guys as a box safety or a backend guy.

He's a versatile guy that can do it all." Bates is entering his eighth NFL season.

Watts's journey to similar longevity begins with rookie minicamp Friday at IBM Performance Field in Flowery Branch.

Mickens feels he has the goods to do it.

"I think he understands football well," Mickens said.

"I think he understands the schemes and where his help is at.

He's mature and takes care of his body, and he's going to do the things off the field that's going to allow him to have success on the field.

"And then just his athletic ability in itself is really, really good, and he's going to continue to capitalize on that." Then, there's this: Watts has never truly failed.

He's battled trials -- limited early playing time at Notre Dame and a long draft-day wait among the most notable -- but he's always been good at everything, Limongi said, whether it's athletics, academics or his actions.

"You take that into being a very competitive and physical, aggressive, young man and wanting to be the best in everything he did, you have a blue chipper," Limongi said.

The Falcons needed players capable of getting the ball back like they need oxygen, Morris said.

For Watts, generating takeaways appears as natural as breathing.

After all, he feels his 13 interceptions are merely who he is.

And he's more than ready to put his pool stick away and prove it..

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