Player
Xavier Watts
S · Falcons
Xavier Watts: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
5 INTs as a rookie — tied for 5th-most in the NFL in 2025 and the top mark among all rookies.
RareNFL INT leaders, 2025
| Player | Team | INTs |
|---|---|---|
| Kevin Byard | CHI | 7 |
| Cobee Bryant / Durant / Jones | – | 6 |
| Xavier Watts | ATL | 5 |
| Jaycee Horn | CAR | 5 |
| Nick Wright | CIN | 5 |
| Mike Jackson | NO | 5 |
Watts came into the league billed as a ball-hawk safety out of Notre Dame and immediately did exactly that. 5 picks — equal to Jaycee Horn, Mike Jackson, and Quay Walker, and ahead of every other rookie in the class.
Among rookie DBs in 2025, only Nick Emmanwori (SEA) logged more tackles. Nobody had more interceptions.
Two picks in one game vs Matthew Stafford in Week 17 — both deep balls.
MilestoneWatts' 5 INTs in 2025
| Week | QB | Direction | Spot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | J.McCarthy | Deep right | ATL 3 |
| 4 | M.Mariota | Deep right | ATL 1 |
| 12 | T.Shough | Deep left | Touchback |
| 17 | M.Stafford | Deep left | ATL 7 |
| 17 | M.Stafford | Short left | ATL 25 |
Four of his five INTs came on deep targets — exactly the profile of a center-fielder safety doing the job. The Week 17 doubleheader against Stafford and the Rams was the highlight: two picks in one game including a 32-yard return on the second.
Three of the five also stopped scoring drives inside Atlanta's own 10-yard line — these are flipping-field picks, not garbage-time stat-padding.
57 tackles, 11 PDs, 5 INTs — a complete rookie line over 17 weeks.
TrendWatts 2025 weekly snapshot
| Week | Tackles | PDs | INTs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 18 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
He was a 3-down starter from Week 1 — every week of 2025 except the bye, Watts logged a tackle. The peak week was the Week 17 Rams game: 4 tackles, 3 PDs, 2 INTs in a single afternoon.
11 PDs from a rookie safety is a real number — it's the kind of volume that puts him on the All-Rookie ballot whether the picks come or not.
Tackles per week (2025)
| Week | Tackles |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 1 |
| 3 | 7 |
| 4 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 |
| 7 | 3 |
| 8 | 2 |
| 9 | 3 |
| 10 | 6 |
| 11 | 1 |
| 12 | 5 |
| 13 | 1 |
| 14 | 2 |
| 15 | 5 |
| 16 | 3 |
| 17 | 4 |
| 18 | 4 |
3 of his 5 picks were stopped inside the Falcons' own 7 — flip-the-field plays in the open field.
SplitWatts' picks have a distinctive signature: deep ball, single-high coverage, ball caught at or inside the 10. The Week 2 pick off J.J. McCarthy was at ATL 3 off a Jefferson target. The Week 4 pick off Mariota was caught at ATL 1 chasing J.Lane. The Week 12 pick off Shough was caught in the end zone for a touchback.
These aren't long returns — they're the safety doing the safety's actual job: erasing the deep throw, then ending the play. The trade-off is fewer pick-six chances; the upside is the offense doesn't get a short field after a turnover.
Zero forced fumbles, zero sacks — pure cover safety, not a blitzer.
AnomalyWatts 2025 vs. Emmanwori (SEA), the other top rookie safety
| Stat | Watts | Emmanwori |
|---|---|---|
| Tackles | 57 | 65 |
| PDs | 11 | 15 |
| INTs | 5 | ~1 |
| Sacks | 0 | ~3 |
| FFs | 0 | ~1 |
The two breakout rookie safeties of 2025 played very different roles. Emmanwori was a hybrid box defender for Seattle — heavy tackler with blitz reps. Watts played pure single-high in Atlanta — no QB hits, no sacks, no forced fumbles, but 5 picks in the cover-3 deep shell.
It's a clean position split for a clean rookie debut: Watts was hired to play the post, and he played the post.
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