{"id":104693,"date":"2025-06-05T00:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T00:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/104693\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T00:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T00:54:11","slug":"2-falcons-hidden-gems-on-2025-roster-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/104693\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Falcons hidden gems on 2025 roster you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are high hopes for the Atlanta Falcons’ offense<\/a> in 2025. But the franchise still can\u2019t escape<\/a> reminders of a haunted past. Looking forward, here are two Falcons’ hidden gems you need to know on the 2025 roster.<\/p>\n

Every NFL eye saw what the Falcons did in the first round of the draft. They set their defensive future on a pair of players they hope will transform their defense.<\/p>\n

However, it could be two other players on the defense who add to the overall good vibes. And both of them play the safety position.<\/p>\n

Falcons safety Xavier Watts looking to shine\"NotreKirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Falcons liked what they saw from Watts and didn\u2019t hesitate to make him their first pick outside of the first round. It comes down to playmaking<\/a>, according to atlantafalcons.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cXavier is an impact player because he takes the ball away,\u201d Falcons area scout Ryan Doyal said in an exclusive interview with atlantafalcons.com. \u201cYou’re going to see a really impressive stat line. When you’re in the teens for interceptions in your career and you’re a two-year starter? And you’re in the teens? You’ve turned the ball over quite a bit. You want to talk about making an impact? Turnovers make an impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team is always looking for turnovers. You look at the statistics, you are winning games based off of these turnovers. So, impactful? Yeah. Absolutely. Every day of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, it\u2019s about skill and ability, according to Falcons defensive pass game coordinator Mike Rutenberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the speed,\u201d Rutenberg said. \u201c(And) you see the movement. You see the size. You see all of that, and you combine that with his ball production? Plus, finding out more about him as a person?\u201d Rutenberg said. \u201cWhat more do you want?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s going to do a ton for us, and have a great impact for us, along with the awesome guys that we already have. Just getting a guy with the versatility \u2014 can play man, can play zone, can blitz, is really good in the run game \u2014 on top of the fact, and I am always going to come back to this with Xavier, he’s a heart, mind, and fist type of guy. It’s what we’re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falcons have a strong duo at the safety position<\/p>\n

The Falcons already like the pairing<\/a> with Jessie Bates III, who is high on Watts, according to Sports Illustrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWent to Notre Dame, smart guy, ball skills (are) off the charts,\u201d Bates said. \u201cIt’ll be good to have a guy like that, that plays above the head, has a good feel for just football itself. He’s a hell of a football player. It’s going to be nice to be that leader for him, because I know what that was like as a safety walking in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, head coach Raheem Morris<\/a> got into the compliment mix, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very instinctual like Jessie Bates,\u201d Morris said. \u201cHe\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article Continues Below<\/p>\n

Adding to the compliments, Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said Watts is that guy<\/a>, according to nytimes.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guy\u2019s a stud,\u201d Fotenot said. \u201cSo, we\u2019re very excited. We were aggressive when we went up and got him, and very excited about that. I mean, outstanding character, serious worker, competitor, high-end instincts, former receiver, ball hawk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falcons safety Billy Bowman adds to mix<\/p>\n

The Falcons cashed all but one of their chips in for defensive reinforcements in the draft. And they doubled their pleasure with a second safety selection.<\/p>\n

The good thing is the way Bowman complements Watts, according to nytimes.com. Bowman said he expects to be on the field early in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectations are always (to start) right away,\u201d Bowman said. \u201cI\u2019m a guy that\u2019s an alpha, and I\u2019m sure that the other guys here are alphas, too. We\u2019re going to come in, compete, make each other better. If I don\u2019t start, I\u2019ll do whatever I need to do to make the team better. I\u2019m going to always put myself in position to be in that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watts said he thinks the duo will work together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think we\u2019re very similar,\u201d Watts said. \u201cWe\u2019re similar in size. He gets the ball. He\u2019s a playmaker. He can tackle well. So, I feel like we\u2019re very similar in all aspects of the game of football.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Morris said the pair makes for an easier time to fill needs in the secondary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a very competitive safety room,\u201d Morris said. \u201cHaving Watts come here and compete with those guys, get a chance to get on the field and really be productive for us is something that we look forward to doing this spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, Fontenot said Bowman is fun to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t enjoy watching him play, then you just don\u2019t like football,\u201d Fontenot said. \u201cHe\u2019s got ball awareness and is just an unreal competitor. Next-level competitor. So, very, very excited about him and what he brings to our team and our defense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are high hopes for the Atlanta Falcons’ offense in 2025. But the franchise still can\u2019t escape reminders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,6,18732,2663],"class_list":{"0":"post-104693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-falcons","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nfl-editorials","15":"tag-raheem-morris"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114628032254043360","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}