‘He’s going to be a star’: Falcons expect even more from Watts in Year 2

FLOWERY BRANCH — Mike Hughes didn’t need an OTA practice, let alone a season with 17 starts and the second-most interceptions by a rookie in franchise history, to know the Falcons landed an impact player in safety Xavier Watts last summer.

“If you really watch football and you saw his Notre Dame tape, you’d be able to tell that,” Hughes said during OTAs. “So, as soon as he stepped foot out here, all we had to do was get his mind right and learn the playbook, and he was going to be all right.”

Watts was better than all right. He finished fourth in the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year race after posting 96 tackles, third-most on the team, and five interceptions, which led the Falcons and tied for second in the league.

There were early indications he’d deliver such a year. Falcons secondary coach Justin Hood said the biggest key for rookies is preparation and who can learn the defense the fastest.

For Watts, a team captain and two-time All-American for the Fighting Irish, the learning curve was more a slight bend than a sharp turn. The third-round pick conceptually understood the Falcons’ defense shortly after arriving in Flowery Branch, and by Week 1, he’d asserted himself as the starter next to All-Pro safety Jessie Bates III.

“As you watch last season, every single week you saw him get better and better in technique, which brought more confidence,” Hood said. “And then that confidence ended up playing faster and he had some success.

“His preparation and the way he works really lended itself to him playing faster on the field and making plays. It’s all his preparation, how he competes.”

Though the Falcons have a new regime, spearheaded by coach Kevin Stefanski, little has changed around Watts. Hood and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich were retained by Stefanski from the previous coaching staff, and much of the secondary — including Bates, Hughes and cornerback A.J. Terrell — remains the same.

And even one of the new faces isn’t a stranger to Watts.

Defensive pass game coordinator Patrick Toney spent the past three seasons as the Arizona Cardinals’ defensive backs coach. Toney interviewed Watts during the pre-draft process in 2025.

Watts’ standout rookie season was hardly a surprise to Toney, who saw a new aspect of the 6-foot, 203-pounder’s skill set come to life.

“I loved him coming out of college,” Toney said during minicamp. “You saw the range in the deep part of the field, the ability to track. The thing I thought he showed last year is his tackling was really on point. He did a really good job tackling.

“And then the other thing is, he did a good job in single coverage. Notre Dame didn’t really ask him to do that as much, and I thought he did a really good job embracing that last season, and that’s something he’s continuing to work on.”

Coverage gains included, the 24-year-old Watts is now well positioned to level up and make the patented second-year leap.

“He’s going to be a star,” Ulbrich said. “He’s going to grow and get better.”

Watts has familiarity with the staff and secondary. He has production. And he has the confidence and comfortability, Stefanski said, of a lap around the sun.

“It allows you to be better in all aspects of your professional life,” Stefanski said. “Meaning your routine you’ve established, the schematics you’ve done before. So, it brings some confidence into your play.

“Xavier, like all of our guys going into Year 2, you lean on the experiences of Year 1 to then take a leap, if you will.”

Watts didn’t get the chance to show glimpses of his offseason growth during OTAs and minicamp. He didn’t participate in any practices because of an undisclosed injury, which Stefanski referred to as a precautionary measure.

Forced to watch from the sidelines, Watts often kept busy, be it talking with teammates and coaches or watching replays of previous snaps on a tablet.

“X is working, man,” Toney said. “He’s involved in everything. He’s doing everything. He’s locked in.”

Watts and Bates started pitching new ways to run certain coverages during meetings with Hood and the rest of the defensive staff. It’s a sign not only of Watts’ confidence and comfort within the defense, but his intelligence from a schematic lens.

Hughes refers to Watts as “Young X.” Yet while Hood said Watts isn’t necessarily mature beyond his years, his maturity and intellect remain evident.