The Ravens brought in a cornerback in the first round of this year’s draft, selecting Nate Wiggins out of Clemson.
After making the selection at No. 30 overall, Ravens G.M. Eric DeCosta said the team was “ecstatic that he fell to us.”
“In my opinion, [he’s] the best cover corner in the draft,” DeCosta said in his press conference. “Highly athletic, fantastic feet. Really, in our opinion, a guy that can go into being a true shutdown-type corner”
DeCosta noted the Ravens felt they had to get a cornerback or an offensive lineman with their first-round pick. When it comes to Wiggins, it helped Baltimore that so many offensive players came off the board in the first round.
“We had a couple of guys that we really liked. We were so hopeful,” DeCosta said. “Honestly, I didn’t think that Nate would be there for us. As the draft started to unfold, and we started to see all of those offensive linemen come off the board, we thought there might be a chance, and then you started to see the run on corners in the 20s.
“Philly might’ve taken [Quinyon] Mitchell, and then [Terrion] Arnold went, and then we started to get antsy. Either the phone was ringing — we had a lot of different potential trade possibilities — but for us, it was always, ‘If Nate [is] there, we [are] going to pick.’ If Nate wasn’t there, [and] there was another guy we liked ... but we also were going to look at trading out.”
Clearly, that didn’t happen and the Ravens ended up with a player DeCosta called “a ridiculous athlete.”
“He’s fast. He’s tough. He’s competitive,” DeCosta said. “In our division, we play a lot of really good receivers, and you have 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 a guy that can come in here and play meaningful football right away for us. We’re excited about that.”
In 34 games for Clemson, Wiggins recorded 27 passes defensed with three interceptions. He was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2023.
