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Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff Writer
OWINGS MILLS — About 15 minutes before the NFL draft started, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh was talking with a handful of defensive coaches when a dreamlike scenario came up.
One coach suggested, “What if Nate Wiggins falls to us? Wouldn’t that be something?”
The other coaches in the room responded, “Nah, that’ll never happen. That couldn’t happen.”
The Ravens received one of their bigger draft-day surprises when Wiggins, the speedy corner from Clemson, fell to Baltimore at the bottom of the first round. A historic run of offensive players in the first round made the possibility of one of the top defenders falling to No. 30 a reality.
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta called Wiggins the best cover corner in the draft. Baltimore defensive coordinator Zach Orr declared Wiggins as the best defensive player in the draft.
As for Wiggins, he sees himself as the most motivated player in this draft class. His mission is as much about proving the doubters wrong as shutting down the game’s best wide receivers.
“I’ve been having up-and-down moments in the draft process. But, I’m here now, and I’m about to make everybody pay who looked over me,” Wiggins said. “They’re going to see what they passed up.”
At the start of the draft, there was a 35% chance that Wiggins would be available at the 30th overall pick, according to ESPN Analytics. Then, 26 teams passed on Wiggins. Two of them selected other cornerbacks — the Philadelphia Eagles chose Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell at No. 22 and the Detroit Lions traded up six spots to take Alabama’s Terrion Arnold.
The Ravens showed how much they wanted Wiggins by turning down eight trade offers from other teams looking to move up.
“For us, it was always, ‘If Nate [is] there, we [are] going to pick,'” DeCosta said. “In our opinion, [he’s] a guy that can be a true shutdown-type corner.”
Wiggins apparently wasn’t convinced about the Ravens’ desire to draft him, even though Orr had told him exactly that. During Wiggins’ pre-draft visit to Baltimore, Orr expressed doubt that Wiggins would be there at the bottom of the first round but told him that he would “fight on the table for you” if he was.
When the Ravens were about to be on the clock, Wiggins was finished with his hourslong wait of staring at his phone.
“Actually, when they called me, I was in the bathroom,” Wiggins said. “I’m not going to lie, I was mad. Then, I saw my phone ring, and everything just went crazy.”
Size causes slide
Last November, it looked like North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton was on his way to a 64-yard touchdown run against Clemson when Wiggins reminded everyone about his speed and hustle. Reaching 22.1 mph, Wiggins chased down Hampton at the 1-yard line and punched the ball out to save six points. Seattle Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf was the NFL’s fastest ball carrier last season, reaching a speed of 22.23 mph against the Dallas Cowboys, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
“As soon as you turn on the tape, you’re like ‘God, dawg, look at this guy go,'” said Chris Hewitt, the Ravens’ defensive passing game coordinator. “I mean, the guy is a blur on the field.”
Nate got that DAWG in him 😤 pic.twitter.com/V0hMFuHnco
— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) November 19, 2023
Wiggins, who is 6-foot-1, was the fastest defensive player at the NFL combine, running the 40-yard dash in 4.28 seconds. He was one of college’s most dominant defensive backs last season, allowing one completion over 20 yards.
The biggest knock against Wiggins is his weight. He became the second defensive back in the past 21 years to get drafted in the first round after weighing less than 175 pounds at the combine. The other was Washington’s Emmanuel Forbes, who struggled as a rookie last year and got benched midway through his rookie season.
“On tape, I didn’t see anything about him being undersized as anything that we critiqued,” Orr said. “He flew up, set the edge in the run game, played physical with receivers at the line of scrimmage, came up, tackled, getting the ball off people. So he played like a Raven. We have no concerns about that at all.”
On March 1, Wiggins weighed in at 173 pounds at the combine. Two weeks later, he was up to 182 pounds at his pro day.
Wiggins explained he wasn’t feeling well leading up to the combine.
“I just lost weight,” Wiggins said. “I just had to gain my weight back and eat right.”
‘You worried about it?’
The Ravens know how to draft cornerbacks. Their history shows they’ve been selective and generally right when taking a cover guy with their first pick.
Before Wiggins, the Ravens chose four cornerbacks in the first round of their first 28 drafts. Two were multiple Pro Bowl players — Chris McAlister and Marlon Humphrey — and the other two, Duane Starks and Jimmy Smith, made momentous plays in Super Bowl victories.
All took varying degrees to develop, but none were season-opening starters. McAlister didn’t crack the starting lineup until the fifth game of his rookie season. Starks and Humphrey weren’t regulars with the first-team defense until midway through their rookie season. Smith needed a couple of years to become a full-time starter.
For Wiggins, he enters a situation where Baltimore returns both of its starting cornerbacks, Humphrey and Brandon Stephens. This could be a situation where Wiggins and Stephens play on the outside and Humphrey moves into a slot cornerback role.
“With the guys that we have in our room, they’re truly interchangeable,” Hewitt said. “[We’re] trying to get the best guys on the field. Whatever that position is, or how we get them on the field, that’s what it’s all about.”
Hewitt then looked at Wiggins and asked, “You worried about it?”
Wiggins shook his head.
“I’m not worried about it,” Hewitt said.
The Ravens have to defend the pass at a high level when playing in a division with Pro Bowl quarterbacks such as Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson. Baltimore was among the best last season in slowing down wide receivers, allowing the eighth-fewest passing yards (2,393) to wide receivers and the sixth-fewest touchdown catches to them (12).
But cornerback was a need for Baltimore in the present and future. With Humphrey sidelined for 12 games over the past three seasons, the Ravens lacked proven depth. Plus, Humphrey’s salary cap hit increases to $25.1 million next season and Stephens will be a free agent after the season.
The Ravens believe they have three legitimate starting cornerbacks, but it may only be a matter of time before Wiggins gets his chance to make the other teams in the league regret not taking him earlier in the draft.
“I know he’s hungry,” Orr said. “He plays with a little edge, which we like.”
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