The 2024 NFL Draft is scheduled to be held in Detroit from April 25–27.
This week, a longtime ESPN NFL Draft analyst gave his early projections for April’s draft.
Mel Kiper Jr. released his first 2024 NFL mock draft (subscription required) and projects one Clemson product — cornerback Nate Wiggins — to get selected in the first round.
Kiper’s debut mock draft has Wiggins being taken with the 11th overall pick by the Minnesota Vikings — who drafted another former Clemson cornerback, Andrew Booth, in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Wiggins and Booth were teammates at Clemson in 2021.
“In my final mock ahead of the 2023 draft, I projected the Vikings taking a cornerback. Instead, they went with wide receiver Jordan Addison, who had a fantastic rookie season, catching 10 touchdown passes,” Kiper wrote. “That need in the secondary still exists. Minnesota ranked 28th in passing yards allowed to receivers last season (3,019), and 2022 second-rounder Andrew Booth Jr. hasn’t quite figured things out. Let’s go back to Clemson — Booth’s former school — with the selection of Wiggins here. Wiggins was a lockdown defender in 2023, allowing just 4.2 yards per attempt as the nearest defender in coverage.”
Wiggins is ranked as the 14th-best prospect overall for the 2024 draft class and the No. 2 cornerback prospect for the draft, according to Kiper’s latest Big Board rankings (subscription required).
Wiggins earned first-team All-ACC honors as a junior in 2023, when the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder tallied 25 tackles (one for loss), a team-high nine pass breakups, two forced fumbles, one sack and two interceptions (one of which he returned 46 yards for his second career touchdown) over 10 games (seven starts).
In his career at Clemson from 2021-23, Wiggins recorded 50 tackles (3.0 for loss), 24 pass breakups, three interceptions (including two returned for touchdowns), two forced fumbles, a sack and a blocked field goal over 34 games (18 starts).