  In 2002 Watkins conjectured that given an elliptic curve defined over
$\mathbb{Q}$, its Mordell-Weil rank is at most the $2$-adic valuation of its
modular degree. We consider the analogous problem over function fields of
positive characteristic, and we prove it in several cases. More precisely,
every modular semi-stable elliptic curve over $\mathbb{F}_q(T)$ after extending
constant scalars, and every quadratic twist of a modular elliptic curve over
$\mathbb{F}_q(T)$ by a polynomial with sufficiently many prime factors satisfy
the analogue of Watkins' conjecture. Furthermore, for a well-known family of
elliptic curves with unbounded rank due to Ulmer, we prove the analogue of
Watkins' conjecture.
