Is Watts a sleeper in the secondary?
The safety position is in an intriguing place when it comes to positional value.
Safeties who can roam the deep center field, offer man coverage upside, or are game-changing ballhawks will always have value. The position as a whole, however, takes a back seat to a number of other defensive positions.
Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts might not be a Cover 1 free safety or have much man coverage upside, but he is definitely a ballhawk with 6 interceptions and 10 passes defensed in 2024. That could make him a sought-after prospect for the right team.
The New York Giants have invested heavily in their secondary recently. However, strong safety Dane Belton is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and the Giants have struggled creating turnovers. Could Watts be a future Giant despite the investments they’ve already made?
Prospect: Xavier Watts (0)
Games Watched: vs. Texas A&M (2024), vs. Georgia Tech (2024), vs. Navy (2024), vs. Ohio State (2025)
Measurables
Kent Lee Platte | RAS.football
Strengths
Best traits
- Football IQ
- Instincts
- Awareness
- Short area quickness
- Closing burst
- Ball skills
Xavier Watts is a smart, instinctive, and highly productive safety prospect.
Watt has solid size for the position at 5-foot 11 ¾ inches tall, 206 pounds, with 31 ¼ inch arms. He also flashes impressive short-area quickness and a solid closing burst at the point of attack.
Watts is a highly intelligent safety and able to serve as the quarterback of the secondary. He’s an active communicator in all phases of the play and is very quick to diagnose the offensive play. Watts has fantastic awareness and moves much like an instinctive middle linebacker, anticipating the flow of the play and taking an accurate first step in that direction.
His football IQ allowed him to play a wide variety of safety roles for Notre Dame. He lined up as a deep safety in both two-deep and single-high looks, as a strong safety, pseudo-linebacker, and was also asked to execute coveragerotations. He was typically at his best when playing in either two-deep or strong safety roles, which allowed him to use his instincts and closing burst to his advantage.
Watts has excellent ball skills and has 14 passes defensed and 13 interceptions over the last two seasons. He does a great job of playing with his eyes in the backfield, letting the quarterback lead him to the play, and has a very quick downhill trigger. Watts gets an exceptional break on the ball and is very disruptive at the catch point.
He’s also a very high effort run defender who’s effective on the play-side and in pursuit. He’s able to knife through traffic or shed blockers, and is willing to do what’s necessary to get the ball carrier on the ground.
Weaknesses
Worst traits
- Overall athleticism
- Long speed
- Range
While Watts has solid short-area quickness and an impressive closing burst, he’s limited by poor top speed and the (relatively) small range that results.
While Notre Dame asked Watts to patrol the deep center field or rotate coverages, he shouldn’t be asked to do so in the NFL. He lacks the foot speed to reach the play when covering broad swathes of field or could be slow to get into position when sprinting back from the second level.
Watts’ lack of speed also impacted his tackling on occasion. He typically takes smart angles to the ball, however faster than expected opponents can easily break his angles. Watts lacks speed to adjust and it can result in poor – or outright missed – tackle attempts.
Very well-executed play fakes can also take advantage of Watts’ aggression at times, as well. His lack of speed means that he needs to commit hard and fast to his course of action, and while he is often correct, a wrong diagnosis can have him running too far away from the play.
Game Tape
(Watts is the Notre Dame safety wearing number 0.)
Projection
Xavier Watts projects as a starting strong safety at the NFL level.
Watts might not have full positional diversity or broad versatility, it might not matter much given the prevalence of Cover 4 and Cover 3 defenses at the NFL level.
Athleticism aside, his football IQ, awareness, processing speed, communication skills, and instincts will be valuable assets to his future defense. Whichever team drafts Watts will need to limit the range of his coverage zones, however he has the potential to be an impact playmaker in the right situation.
Watts’ downhill play could be particularly valuable given the resurgent rushing attacks around the NFL, as well as how coverages are forcing passes to the underneath area of the field. He may slide some on draft day, but that could make him a steal for the right team.
Does he fit the Giants?
Yes
Final Word: A Day 2 value