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COLLEGE: With their fifth round pick (138th overall) in the 2006 NFL Draft, Dallas selected Pat Watkins - an athletic and instinctive safety with great range from Florida State University. He finished his college career with the Seminoles playing in 49 consecutive games and tallying 13 interceptions. He is also one of the game's top special teams coverage players, a skill that will land him considerable playing time as a rookie. Watkins's durability and quickness should also have him in the mix to compete for playing time in the defensive backfield this season.
2005: Watkins played in all 13 games, starting 10 contests for the Seminoles, and finished third on the team with 77 tackles. He tied for the team lead with three interceptions, giving him 10 for his career and earning him honorable mention All-ACC accolades. He helped lead his team to the Orange Bowl, where they eventually fell to the third ranked Penn State 26-23 in overtime. In the bowl game, Watkins tied his career-high with 10 tackles and added 1.5 tackles for a loss. He first recorded the career-high 10 stops against Miami. He was also a part of the special teams units, serving as a gunner on both punt and kickoff returns. In the ACC Championship game he made an open field tackle on punt coverage and downed a punt on the one-yard line.
2004: He started all 12 games for Florida State and finished with four interceptions which tied him for second in the ACC with his teammate Antonio Cromartie. He also tied for eighth in the ACC and second on the team with a single-season career-high 10 passes broken up. He posted 56 tackles on the year, good for second among defensive backs and tied for the team lead with two fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles. He helped lead the Seminoles to a 10-3 record and a victory over West Virginia in the Gator Bowl. Against Florida he tied his season-high with nine stops. He recorded five-or-more tackles seven times during the season with eight at Miami and six against Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina State.
2003: Watkins played in all 13 games helping lead the Seminoles to a 10-3 record and a berth in the Orange Bowl against Miami. He tied for the team lead with three interceptions - coming against North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Miami. He ranked third on the team with eight passes defensed and fifth with 62 tackles. In his first career start in the Orange Bowl against Miami - a game Florida State lost 16-14 - he recorded a season-high nine stops. In the season opener against North Carolina, he tallied eight tackles. He posted at least six tackles in a game four times - two in wins over Notre Dame and NC State. He scored his first career defensive touchdown on a 25-yard fumble recovery against the Gators to tie the score at 24 late in the third quarter.
2002: As a freshman, he played in 11 games, including the Seminoles Sugar Bowl loss to Georgia. He recorded seven of his 10 tackles in the final five games in helping Florida State reach a 9-5 record.
PERSONAL: Watkins was an All-America first-team selection by the USA Today, a Parade magazine All-America selection and the number one rated prep safety in the nation by TheInsiders.com and Max Emfinger after his high school career at Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, Fla. During his senior season he recorded 140 stops, six interceptions and two fumble recoveries on defense and added six kickoff returns for touchdowns. He was a social science major while at Florida State. | 