Atlanta Falcons Hidden Gems: 3 secret superstars on the 2025 roster

Xavier Watts was an absolute steal in the third round.

For the second straight season, the Falcons did some unusual things at the top of their draft. Of course, we all know about the decision to take Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft after signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract with $100 million guaranteed. Then this time around, they made the choice to trade back up into the first round after taking Georgia’s Jalon Walker with the 15th overall pick to also add Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr. with the 26th pick. The two edge-rushers came at premium prices — the Pearce trade cost Atlanta their 2025 second- and seventh-round picks, and their first-rounder in 2026.

That may seem like overkill, even for a franchise that has been out of sorts when it comes to edge pressure since time immemorial, but as it turned out, the Penix pick turned out to be the (or at least a) right move. Cousins was clearly hampered by injuries, Penix proved to be an upgrade late in the season, and the fact that “How far might the Falcons have gone in the playoffs had they started Penix earlier?” was a legitimate question for an 8-9 team validates the potential wisdom of the all-in thought process this time around.

“You know with trades, it always gets to that point where you have to weigh out what you’re actually doing and what you’re doing it for,” general manager Terry Fontenot said after the deal was made. “We look at the trade charts and all that stuff, but at some point you have to look at who’s the player and what’s going to be, what are we really getting, and is it worth it? That’s what you really have to do at some point. When you have that kind of conviction and belief in the player, then that’s when you’re willing to do it, and we do. We have that kind of belief in our staff. It’s not just about the actual drafting of players, it’s about getting them in the right environment and developing the right way, and we truly believe.”

It’s certainly a case where everyone involved had better be right, but everybody said that last year. And outside of the Cousins issues… well, at least the Falcons got their first bonafide starting quarterback since Matt Ryan out of the deal.

Of course, there’s more to getting back over the hump and making the playoffs for the first time since 2017 than a few well-placed draft picks. In the continuation of my “Hidden Gems” series, I look at three underrated stars – one veteran, one free-agent signing, and one third-day draft pick. All three of these players have the juice to help these Falcons get where they so desperately want to be.

Underrated veteran: WR Darnell Mooney

One narrative about the Falcons offense over the last few seasons is that there has been too little payback for the first-round talent the franchise has invested in as targets for its quarterbacks. And yes, more has been expected of 2021 fourth overall pick Kyle Pitts and 2022 eighth overall pick Drake London than has been given. That’s not 100% on Pitts and London, and London did have a bit of a breakout season in 2024, so perhaps with Penix leading the charge, better things are on the horizon.

On the plus side is what receiver Darnell Mooney did for the team in the first year of the three-year, $39 million contract with $26 million guaranteed he signed on March 15, 2024. Selected in the fifth round of the 2020 draft by the Chicago Bears out of Tulane, the 5’11, 173-pound Mooney was a bit of a lost force in Chicago’s disasterbacle offenses in 2022 and 2023, but stepped up big time for a Falcons offense in need last season. Mooney caught 64 passes on 100 targets for 992 yards and a career-high five touchdowns, aligning himself quickly with Atlanta’s quarterbacks.

I’ve been beating this drum for a while, as Mooney made my All-Underrated Team for the first half of the 2024 season, and he just kept thriving in his first season in Atlanta.

Mooney also aligned himself with first-year offensive coordinator Zac Robinson in ways Robinson had never seen before, requesting weekly meetings with Robinson to make sure everyone was on the same proverbial page.

“Yeah, it was him,” Robinson said. “He brought it up this summer to me and he called me out of the blue. It was like middle of July before camp started up and he said, ‘Hey, I’d love to meet with you one-on-one just to go through the game plan. Is there a day that you have that’s somewhat available?’ And I said, ‘Shoot, we can knock it out Friday right after practice.’ So every Friday, we finish practice. Mooney comes up there, and we pull up the call sheet, and we go through everything. He doesn’t want to spend too much time on the run game, which I get. But we hit all the passes, and he just wants to know, ‘Hey, what are we thinking here?’ And he does a great job relaying those things to the guys on game day. If there’s somebody that’s getting lined up and they’re not quite sure, he knows all the spots. He knows every position. It’s really impressive.”

Robinson was then asked whether any other receiver he’d ever worked with had asked for weekly one-on-ones.

“I’ve never been around it,” Robinson, who spent 2019-2023 with the Los Angeles Rams organization, said. “The closest, obviously – Cooper Kupp was in the same mold as Mooney. Those guys are very similar in the way they work and all those things. Saw it more with Cooper and Matthew Stafford. Those two guys met all the time, which Mooney does with our quarterbacks as well. But as far as a one-on-one meeting with the play-caller, I’ve never heard of that.”

It shows up on the field, especially when Mooney is tasked to make downfield catches. Last season, Mooney ranked fourth in the NFL with 14 catches of 20 or more air yards… and he did that on just 22 deep targets. Mooney isn’t just fast in a straight line; it’s all about setting cornerbacks and safeties up, and burning them with his understanding of the position’s nuances. Those meetings appear to be paying off.

Underrated free-agent signing: EDGE Leonard Floyd

Would it surprise you to know that the man who ranks eighth overall in sacks, and 12th overall in quarterback pressures since 2000 was available on the open market this offseason for what became a one-year deal? Well, before they double-dipped in the draft with Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. to solve their persistent edge-rushing issues, the Falcons signed veteran Leonard Floyd to a one-year, $10 million, fully guaranteed contract.

Floyd was under-the-radar in this free agency period, which seemed strange, because he’s been mighty productive in different schemes and for different teams. Floyd was a bit of a washout with the Chicago Bears, who selected him ninth overall out of Georgia in the 2016 draft. But the Los Angeles Rams took a one-year flyer on him in 2020, and he rewarded his new team with a 13-sack, 55-pressure season. That had the Rams signing him to a four-year, $64 million contract in 2021. That marriage lasted through the 2022 season. The Buffalo Bills picked Floyd up on a one-year, $7 million contract in 2023, and Floyd hit his incentives there. Then, the San Francisco 49ers gave him a two-year, $20 million contract in 2024, which lasted one year as the team’s salary cap purge went into full effect.

One day after the 49ers released him on March 12, Floyd was in Flowery Branch signing his deal with the Falcons. Last season for the 49ers, Floyd had 11 sacks and 44 total pressures. And before you assume that he was simply a beneficiary of the Nick Bosa Effect, consider that five of his sacks, and 14 of his total pressures, came when Bosa wasn’t on the field. Floyd is still a dynamic speed rusher who can flip multiple gaps to get to the quarterback as easily as he can dip-and-rip around tackles to take the edge.

And for the Falcons with all of their new edge riches, Floyd will also be tasked to help the new kids out.

“Maybe it’s the ex-player in me, [but] I think there’s nothing more powerful than just seeing it modeled right in front of you,” new defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said post-draft of Floyd’s value as a mentor, even beyond his potential production. “There’s something extremely powerful for a young player to be around that. So having Leonard Floyd here will be huge as far as the development of these young guys. An amazing resource, tons of experience. Obviously, he’s had tons of production. I mean it’s rare that you get a player like that (who) just has consistently produced as far as pass rush is concerned for so long.”

No argument there.

(Ridiculously) underrated NFL draft pick: Safety Xavier Watts

There are times in a draft where you wonder if you got your own evaluation completely wrong. This happened to me in the 2025 pre-draft process with Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts. I considered Watts to be the best overall safety in this draft class, especially when it comes to coverage. So when he lasted until the 96th overall pick in the third round – which is where the Falcons were able to steal him with a trade-up – I was flabbergasted.

In four seasons with the Fighting Irish – the last two as a full-time starter – Watts allowed 52 catches on 91 targets for 614 yards, one touchdown (in 2022), 13 interceptions, 10 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 41.9. Throwing anywhere near Watts last season was nightmare fuel in particular for quarterbacks — that’s when he allowed 17 catches on 32 targets for 179 yards, 115 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, six interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 30.1. Watts also had 67 solo tackles, 23 stops, one sack, and seven total pressures.

Is Watts an iffy tackler at times? Yes. He had 13 missed tackles last season, and that’s part of the breakneck style. But when you have a guy who can do all of this as a pass defender, and does it from everywhere on the field (25% of his snaps last season as a middle-of-the-field safety, 42% as a split safety, 17% in the slot, 8% in the box, and 7% at field cornerback level), you can deal with a few extra tackling drills.

I wasn’t the only one surprised by the fact that Watts was still available on Day 3.

“It’s funny, you create these clusters of players at every position and, and obviously you have needs, and best on board, and there’s a lot of things that go into this,” Ulbrich said after the Watts pick. “When I kept putting my safety cluster together, we were looking at this third to fourth round as kind of like the honey-hole for that. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even put Watts on it, because I had him as a second-round guy, and I thought he was going to be long gone. If we had had our second, he would have definitely been part of that conversation. The fact that we didn’t have that second anymore, I thought he was out of the conversation, and then he ends up being there.”

Watts can fit in Jessie Bates’ role as a potentially dominant deep-third defender over time, and with Watts added to the roster in general, it presents all kinds of flexibility all over the defense.

“Yeah, I’m really glad to be part of the Falcons, because Jessie Bates is a player I model my game after,” Watts said after he was drafted. “So, I’m really excited to be teammates with him. I just think we’re very similar. We’re similar in size. He gets the ball. He’s a playmaker. He can tackle well. So, I feel like we’re very similar in all aspects of the game of football.”

The proof is in the tape, and the tape is ridiculous. As is the idea that Xavier Watts is a third-round talent.