One teammate in particular is fellow starting safety Jessie Bates III, who had the first interception of the night against Stafford. Bates has been in the NFL since 2018, when the Cincinnati Bengals drafted him in the second round. He joined the Falcons in 2023 and made the Pro Bowl after picking off six passes that year.
As soon as the Falcons brought Watts in, the defensive team captain took him under his wing.
“That’s little bro right there,” Bates said.
And that relationship has been beyond beneficial for Watts.
“It’s huge,” Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said last week. “I mean, it’s powerful, obviously, for a coach to teach you a technique, to show you tape, to make you cut-ups, to drill it. That’s all very important. Mike Rutenberg and Lance Schulters, they do an amazing job of developing that part of it. But to have a guy that can absolutely demonstrate it right in front of you on a daily basis, there’s nothing more powerful than that.
“So, yeah, a huge part of his development. And it’ll be a huge part of the reason that Xavier becomes one of the better safeties in this league, if not the best safety, because I think that’s in him.”
Interestingly enough, the Rams played a role in helping the Falcons acquire Watts.