Despite a spectacular Notre Dame football career, safety Xavier Watts somehow fell out of the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. While he was selected on the second day, it still seemed like everyone but the Atlanta Falcons missed out on one of the best young defenders to hit the league in quite a while.
After earning the starting job towards the end of fall camp, Watts demonstrated just how good he is in his regular-season debut. To the eye test, Watts was flying all over the field. And his stats showed that the Falcons' rookie was one of the best players on the field, even if the team lost to the Tennessee Titans in their season opener.