The Baltimore Ravens are expecting big things from Nate Wiggins this season, and so is this national outlet.
Coming off Wiggins’ strong rookie campaign in 2024, the former Clemson star cornerback was named to the Pro Football Focus (PFF) 2025 NFL All-Breakout Team, a list of the projected breakout stars at each position.
After being drafted by the Ravens in the first round (30th overall) of the 2024 NFL Draft, Wiggins saw his role steadily increase throughout last season as he continued to improve and got more comfortable as an NFL corner. By season’s end, he established himself as a quality starter. After limited playing time in the early going, Wiggins carved out a significant role in the Ravens’ secondary by the time the postseason rolled around and was playing at a high level well while seeing plenty of action on the field.
In 15 regular season games, Wiggins tallied 33 tackles, 13 passes defended, a forced fumble and his first career interception – a pick-six in Baltimore’s Week 18 win over the Cleveland Browns. The former first-team All-ACC selection added six more tackles and a quarterback hit in two playoff games.
Here’s what PFF’s Bradley Locker wrote about Wiggins as one of the cornerbacks on the All-Breakout Team:
As the Ravens tweaked their secondary in the middle of 2024, Wiggins also seemed to hit his stride later in his first year. Now, the sophomore corner could make a name for himself in 2025.
From Week 7 onward, Wiggins earned a 69.4-plus PFF coverage grade in six of 12 contests. Throughout the broader season, the former Clemson Tiger ranked in the 70th percentile in both PFF coverage grade at outside cornerback (70.9) and in forced incompletion rate (12.7%).
With Brandon Stephens now a Jet, Wiggins should net a full year of starting outside next to Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Hamilton. Given how promising the early results were for Wiggins, his potential is high, even as early as this season.
Having flashed that potential as a rookie, Wiggins’ future looks very bright, and Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr has made it clear he’s looking for Wiggins to make a major leap in Year 2 and become one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks.
“What I see him focusing on now, he’s more locked in on his fundamentals and technique on a more consistent basis,” Orr said recently. “Last year, I felt he got to that point towards the middle, end of the season. But last year he was just running like a chicken with his head cut off, trying to figure out what to do.
“Now he understands the system, he understands the defense. He’s been in the league for a year. He understands formations from offenses, so now he can really hone in on his technique. That guy right there, [if] he takes his technique to another level on a consistent basis, the sky’s the limit for him.”
Wiggins is setting the bar high for himself heading into 2025 and said recently that he wants to record 10-plus takeaways this season. With his sights set on accomplishing that, Wiggins arrived to the Ravens’ offseason program as a stronger version of himself and has added 10 pounds since last season.