Ravens normal supervisor Eric DeCosta has not been one to shrink back from making a commerce to accumulate extra draft capital.
Nevertheless, within the 2024 NFL Draft, he determined to face pat at choose No. 30 and choose former Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins. ESPN’s Jamison Hensley has since revealed that DeCosta turned down a number of trades to take action.
“The Ravens confirmed how a lot they needed Wiggins by turning down eight commerce affords from different groups trying to transfer up,” Hensley wrote.
It’s unknown what was provided by the groups trying to commerce up, however DeCosta’s inactivity says extra about how Baltimore seen Wiggins than anything.
“For us, it was at all times, ‘If Nate [is] there, we [are] going to select,'” DeCosta stated. “In our opinion, [he’s] a man that may be a real shutdown-type nook.”
The Ravens had been clearly shocked that Wiggins was nonetheless out there and rightfully so. The Clemson product registered 58 tackles, one sack, two compelled fumbles, three interceptions and 17 passes defensed the previous two years.
The most important concern surrounding Wiggins is his dimension (6-foot-1, 185 kilos) and if he’ll have bother defending greater receivers in a bodily AFC North. Defensive coordinator Zach Orr doesn’t share these considerations, nonetheless.
“On tape, I did not see something about him being undersized as something that we critiqued,” Orr stated. “He flew up, set the sting within the run sport, performed bodily with receivers on the line of scrimmage, got here up, tackled, getting the ball off folks. So he performed like a Raven. Now we have no considerations about that in any respect.”
If Baltimore as an entire shared any of these considerations, it will have probably accepted one of many eight commerce affords. That was not the case.
Plus, the Ravens wanted so as to add to their cornerback room after watching a number of key gamers of their secondary endure accidents final season.
Wiggins will present some much-needed depth on the very least with an excellent alternative to be a Week 1 starter whereas additionally giving them a terrific probability to proceed having among the finest defenses within the league.
