Baltimore Ravens first-round pick Nate Wiggins will deal with questions all offseason about his weight.
At 6-foot-1 and 173 pounds, the former Clemson cornerback possesses a narrow frame for his position. He says his top priority ahead of his rookie season is gaining 10 to 15 pounds, but Wiggins wants to be defined by his play on the field — not the number on the scale.
“When people bring up my weight, I just say ‘Look at film,'” Wiggins said on Glenn Clark Radio May 9. “You don’t really see folks pushing me around.”
What Wiggins lacks in size he makes up for with blistering speed. His 40-yard dash time of 4.28 seconds was the fastest of any defensive back at the NFL Scouting Combine and the second-fastest overall.
Wiggins’ speed was on full display in a November game against North Carolina. Tar Heels running back Omarion Hampton appeared on his way to a 64-yard touchdown run until Wiggins ran him down from behind and stripped the ball just before Hampton crossed the goal line, resulting in a touchback.
But Wiggins says he has made plays like that before. He believes that play in particular shows his competitive nature that was instilled in him by his older siblings.
“The competitiveness comes from being the youngest kid from a lot of siblings,” Wiggins said. “You know how that goes. Being the youngest kid, you’re always getting beat up. They toughen you up.”
That drive runs throughout the family. Wiggins’ mother Tamika, a former basketball player who raised him as a single parent, pushes him to be great every day.
“She wants me to be the best, she doesn’t ever want to see me lose,” Wiggins said. “She wants me to go out there and compete. So I feel like she’s drawing into me and making me a better player.”
It didn’t hit the 20-year-old until his sophomore year at Clemson that the NFL was a real possibility. Wiggins showed up late to workouts and Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney challenged his young cornerback to mature. He responded.
“My freshman year it was just adjusting, and sophomore year was more, ‘The bigger thing is in front of me,'” Wiggins said. “So it was just like, ‘I’ve got to get more mature.'”
Wiggins should have time to continue to mature in Baltimore. He enters a cornerback room with two established veteran starters in Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Stephens. When both players went down with injuries during the Ravens’ Week 17 win against the Miami Dolphins that clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC, it illustrated depth at the position as an area of need come the offseason.
In Wiggins, the Ravens are getting a young, hyper-athletic corner who is still growing into his frame. And now he has a chip on his shoulder.
“I fell to [pick] 30, so all the 31 teams that didn’t pick me — they’re gonna see. They’re gonna feel it,” Wiggins said.
For more from Wiggins, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Clemson Athletics