FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — In order to play in the secondary at the next level, there is one trait that often stands out amongst the best. It's confidence in one's self and abilities. Few positions are put on an island as much as defensive backs are. Even the best of the best win as much as they get burned in coverage. And yet, confidence must remain as play after play comes and goes.
This confidence shows up in different ways for defensive backs across the league. Some are loud, ruckus, the truest forms of smack talkers. Others are quiet, cool, laser focused. And after getting to know his newest defensive backs in the Falcons 2025 draft class, Jerry Gray believes he has both personalities manifesting out of the same confidence in Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman Jr.
The assistant head coach/defense broke the duo down like this:
Watts is ice. He's cool, calculated, calm.
"All he does is make plays," Gray said. "A solid guy who just understands what you're supposed to do."
Bowman is fire. He's feisty, passionate and, per Gray, "a little bit more aggressive." That's why he's already given the two newbies a moniker.
"I'm probably going to nickname them 'Fire and Ice' because they are the same," Gray said. "When you talk to them you can see the same thing, too."
And wouldn't you know it? Gray was right.
As the Falcons wrapped up rookie minicamp last week, both Watts and Bowman addressed the local media for the first time since draft weekend. They were both asked the same question to start their interviews: "What is a successful rookie minicamp for you? What goals do you have for the weekend?" Their individual answers couldn't have been more fire-and-ice coded.
Watts' goal? "Just to really get adjusted to the new system."
Bowman's? "To push myself to the limits, come out here and be uncomfortable."
In their own ways, the addition of Watts and Bowman to the secondary enhances the position. The Falcons need Watts to turn into a starter alongside Jessie Bates III — a calm and collected playmaker who Watts said he's mimicked his own game after. Meanwhile, Atlanta needed to add competition in the slot at nickel. Enter Bowman, who could potentially light a fire under the butts of Dee Alford and Clark Phillips III. Come training camp, that starting nickel spot could be a wide open competition between the three.
"Those guys are going to be great for our room," Gray said of Watts and Bowman. "We are basically trying to create more competition, get our current players playing better and at a higher level. And guess what? If that happens they are going to make us better."
How they will do that is through their football IQ, according to secondary coach Justin Hood. He said that beyond their playmaking abilities shown on tape, that was the first thing he noticed about the duo, regardless of their "fire and ice" ways of playing.
"You talk to both these guys, you do their interviews, like I remember doing their interviews and writing down in my notes: These guys are high-level thinkers on the football field. Extremely high FBI," Hood explained. "So, when you talk about those things and their ability to go get the football, it's not only the ability to catch it; it's the ability to put themselves in position and understand how the offense is attacking them to go make those plays."
Since 2022, Watts and Bowman are the first- and third-ranked defensive backs in the FBS in career interceptions, with 13 and 11, respectively. They find a way to put hands on the ball. It's something they — along with Gray and Hood — are hoping to bring to an Atlanta secondary looking to make more splash plays outside of Bates. How Watts and Bowman do so? That's up to them, with either Bowman's fire or Watts' ice.
