The Ravens selection of CB Nate Wiggins in Round 1 is being called a “first-round steal.”
The Ravens metaphorically ran to the podium when they were on the clock at No. 30 overall of the 2024 NFL Draft to select cornerback Nate Wiggins. In their draft models and projections, General Manager Eric DeCosta admitted it was unlikely Wiggins would be on the board at No. 30, and it was evident in their actions they were excited to select him.
“Honestly, I didn’t think that Nate [Wiggins] would be there for us,” DeCosta said.
DeCosta also shared they declined up to eight trades at their pick to take Wiggins instead, too.
The Ravens were lauded for the selection then and praise continues to pour in more than a week later; most recently an anonymous AFC executive who spoke with ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler heralded the pick.
“He’s smooth, and even though he’s thin, he plays big,” an AFC personnel exec said to Fowler. “That was the steal of the first round for me.”
This is far from the first to name Wiggins as the steal of Round 1 as Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson said the same on “The PFF NFL Podcast.”
“Nate Wiggins has legitimate talent. He’s got the ability to be the ‘CB1’ from this draft class,” Monson said. “Crazy coverage skills, crazy speed, he can play man or zone. … I think that’s a steal at the bottom of the first.”
Frequently throughout the post-draft press conferences, DeCosta gave credit to manager of data and decision science Derrick Yam for his analytics and models on how the draft would unfold. DeCosta shared the models projected it was unlikely they’d land Wiggins, but gave enough of a chance to hope for such an outcome in an interview with “The Lounge Podcast.”
“I think Wiggins was closer to 40%,” DeCosta said. “The issue for us really was going to be if we were able to get an offensive lineman in the first round, we saw a very small chance that we would get a corner in the second round. We thought that there was a better chance of us to get the offensive lineman in the second round by getting the corner in the first round. Just looking at the way we could operate the board based on the percentages of those players being there.”
The Ravens’ strategy and a bit of fortune paid off as they come away with a player many are viewing as the steal of Round 1 and possibly the best cornerback in the 2024 NFL draft.
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