The Falcons got a STEAL in Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts!

Ryan Roberts discusses how the Atlanta Falcons got a huge win when they drafted Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety Xavier Watts!

Transcript

00:00don't look now but in the former notre dame all-american is already turning heads on the nfl

00:05level let's talk about how xavier watts could be one of the biggest steals in the 2025 nfl draft

00:12ryan robbers from a to z sports bringing down everything notre dame football folks it's a

00:19quiet time of the off season on the college level obviously we're approaching a dead period in the

00:25recruiting side as well so just not a lot to talk about from a team perspective but as we know the

00:30nfl is already kicking up we've had rookie minicamp they're going to work into otas here

00:35and a lot of excitement around the nfl because as of right now every team is oh and oh and they have

00:41a chance to have a tremendous 2025 season optimism and on an all-time high and i want to talk about

00:48a former notre dame star who's already turning heads in rookie minicamp and now moving into the otas

00:53want to talk about former all-american safety xavier watts who folks around the atlanta falcons

00:59and that area of the country are raving about what watts has already shown early on with his time with

01:06the team of course most notre dame fans probably aren't super surprised about that having seen

01:10what watts was able to do the last two years after switching over from wide receiver to the safety

01:15position full-time 13 interceptions all-american pick over the last two years and one of the most

01:21dynamic defenders in all of college football now for whatever reason and the reason mostly

01:27centered around the athletic testing that he put out at his pro day which was solid but unspectacular

01:33and he's just kind of phrased and and labeled a player that is not a dynamic athlete and wins more

01:38with his mind which is honestly a fair assessment the the best things that xavier watts does is with his

01:43mental processing his diagnostic skills and his ability to create turnovers with his great ball skills which

01:50makes sense with his career starting as a wide receiver but he falls the 96th overall pick in

01:55the third round and the atlanta falcons got an absolute steal it appears early on in this process

02:00the thought of having jesse bates the third who is one of the most talented ball hawks in the entire nfl

02:07and a dynamic weapon over 20 interceptions already in his seven-year career having him now with the

02:13xavier watts next to him i think is going to be the perfect mesh of styles while jc bates is more of the

02:18true free safety type you're going to rotate him more to the middle of the field and ask him to

02:22play with range from the middle of the field to the hash eventually the sideline xavier watts is

02:27much more of a too high guy that is going to come down and is going to rob short passing windows guy

02:33that really likes to be anticipatory and to close those windows quickly close those passing lanes

02:38and ultimately create a long list of turnovers and i think having jesse bates being able to roll back

02:44allowing xavier watts to roll forward that could become a dynamic duo but i like major question is

02:49here for the chat is anybody shocked that xavier watts is already proving to be not only a tremendous

02:56value but one of the bigger undervalued players in the 2025 class folks put in the chat right now

03:02what are your expectations for xavier watts as a as a rookie excuse me in the nfl defense player of the

03:08year starter throwing up a a box score for me how many tackles how many interceptions want to hear

03:14from you all right now in the comment section make sure hit the like button and subscribe button on the

03:18way out and as always go irish