Ravens thrilled to get 'ridiculous athlete' Nate Wiggins late in first round

Nate Wiggins is a second Clemson Tiger to get picked by the Baltimore Ravens, after no Clemson picks by the franchise before 2023.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Fri Apr 26 08:19:58 GMT-04:00 2024

The Baltimore Ravens selected Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins late Thursday night with the No. 30 overall pick of the NFL draft first round, making him the second Tiger selected by the Ravens in as many years and the first Clemson cornerback drafted in the first round since 2020 ( AJ Terrell to Atlanta in 2020). Both Ravens’ general manager Eric DeCosta and head coach John Harbaugh were surprised Wiggins was available at the No. 30 pick.

“Honestly, I didn’t think that Nate would be there for us. As the draft started to unfold and we started to see all those offensive linemen come off the board, we thought there might be a chance and then you start to see the run on corners in the 20s,” DeCosta said. “We started to get antsy. We had a lot of different potential trade possibilities. But for us, it was always if Nate was there, we were going to pick. If Nate wasn’t there, there was another guy we liked, but we were possibly going to look at trading out.”

During his collegiate career, Wiggins had 50 tackles, 24 pass breakups and three interceptions, two of which were returned for a touchdown. Despite his impressive performance in his three years, there was some dispute about his talent level compared to other cornerbacks in the draft. For Baltimore, however, there was no doubt that Wiggins was their cornerback as DeCosta identified him as one of their top 20 prospects. Further, they were receiving trade calls for the No. 30 overall pick but declined to do so because Wiggins was still available.

“When I think of Nate, I just think that he’s a ridiculous athlete. Very, very quick-footed, efficient. He’s fast, he’s tough, he’s competitive. In our division, we play a lot of really good receivers, and you’ve got to get off the field on third downs, and we were blessed last year to have a lot of depth in the secondary, and it really helped us quite a bit, and this is the guy that can come in here and play meaningful football for us right away. We’re excited about that,” DeCosta said. “When you get a player that you have highly rated, who you love, who fills the position you need, then you got to take him.”

Harbaugh is known as a defensive-minded coach who values toughness in a player, one of the reasons he and the Ravens selected linebacker Trenton Simpson in last year’s draft. He explained that he sees Wiggins as an immediate, quality starter who can play both on the inside and outside.

“I think you see him as an outside corner. I think that’s where he’s made his hay, but he plays inside as well. He did it in college. I think we’ll just continue to be versed with what we do with those DBs, move them around, let them play in different spots. Gives us another quality starting corner … He’s got to come in and prove it and do it and all that, but we expect him to do it. We were excited. We were looking for Nate,” Harbaugh said. “We were in the defensive room … before the draft started, about 7:45, and it came up, ‘What if Wiggins falls to us? Wouldn’t that be something?’ and we were like, ‘That will never happen. That couldn’t happen, but how good would that look in our defense?’ And it worked out, and it came true, so we’re excited.”

Coming out of college, there were some concerns about Wiggins’ weight. This was particularly emphasized by the fact that he was the lightest cornerback drafted in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. However, neither DeCosta nor Harbaugh are concerned about this.

“He goes up and smacks people. He’s not afraid of the physical part of it at all. He’s a complete corner. First of all, he’s rangy, and he can run,” Harbaugh said. “He’s got very good feet, he changes direction, he puts his hands on people in press and he runs up and tackles people with some physicality. So, the weight doesn’t impede him at all. He’s going to put on weight. I think he’s over 180 now.”

There are several more Clemson prospects still available in the draft, including defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro, linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr and running back Will Shipley. The draft will continue on Friday, April 26 (7 p.m./ABC-ESPN-NFLN).