Nate Wiggins NFL Draft Overview
Position: Cornerback
Height: 6′-2″
Weight: 185 pounds
School: Clemson
2024 NFL Draft: Nate Wiggins Scouting Report
After spending three seasons with the Clemson Tigers, cornerback Nate Wiggins has decided to forgo his senior season and enter the 2024 NFL Draft. Over his career at Clemson, Wiggins appeared in 30 games over his three seasons. He is coming off the best season of his strong career as he was named first-team All-ACC in 2023. Appearing in 10 games, the star cornerback recorded two interceptions, four pass breakups, and two forced fumbles.
Wiggins stepped on campus at Clemson with high expectations as a four-star recruit and top 10 ranked corner in the 2021 high school class and he has lived up to those expectations. Wiggins wasn’t a starter yet but was utilized in his true freshman season as he appeared in seven games, playing 20+ snaps four times. He then developed into a starter in his sophomore season in 2022 appearing in 13 of 14 games Wiggins played the second most snaps of any Tiger defender with 772 recording one interception and 10 pass breakups.
Strengths
- Change of direction is very good, especially in short areas;
- Balance is elite as rarely do you ever see him take a false step or look unbalanced in coverage;
- Good understanding of how to read wide receiver’s movements when making breaks to react quickly to routes coming back to the ball like hitch or comeback routes out of press or off-man coverage;
- Good ability to mirror wide receivers out of press man coverage;
- Good instincts when playing off-man coverage to sit on intermediate routes or run hip to hip with wide receivers on downfield routes to disrupt downfield shot attempts;
- Good instincts in zone coverage as he’s able to keep his eyes on the QB to react to passes on plays where he’s between two offensive players in hook zone or curl flat assignments.
Weaknesses
- Not a major asset as a run defender;
- Has a tendency to take poor angles on running backs in the box by drifting too far outside and leaving too much space inside;
- Angles on ball carriers in the open field are also inconsistent;
- Gets moved at the point of attack on run blocks.
NFL Comparison: Darius Slay
Teams With Need At Position: Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans
Projection: Top 15 Pick
Bottom Line on Nate Wiggins
Nate Wiggins is a scheme-versatile player as he has the skill set to succeed in both man and zone coverage, however, a man-heavy scheme better maximizes his abilities. If a team is going to invest valuable draft capital into a cornerback, they want to be able to trust them with high-difficulty man coverage assignments which is what Wiggins provides.
His ability to mirror wide receivers out of press or off-man coverage is amongst the best in this class. Not only does Wiggins possess change of direction and balance but also has a good understanding of how to read the movements of receivers when making breaks to maintain good positioning at the stem of the route.
Wiggins isn’t great as a run defender and open-field tackler due to his tendency to take poor angles against ball carriers. Because of this, he isn’t someone that you want playing near the line of scrimmage as a slot defender, meaning he will need to make his money playing as a boundary corner. Luckily for him, Wiggins’ abilities in coverage outweigh any struggles he has as a tackler.
In a perfect world, Wiggins will land with a team that wants to play a lot of man coverage like the Minnesota Vikings but doesn’t currently have enough talent at cornerback to execute that. Wiggins is likely to be one of the first cornerbacks off the board in April’s draft as his man coverage ability is something a lot of teams value and have a need for.
Main Image: Ken Ruinard-USA TODAY Sports
