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The Baltimore Ravens are “banking on” a second-year starter becoming one of the NFL’s best.
The Baltimore Ravens boast one of the more loaded rosters in the NFL headed into the 2025 season, but there are still questions about the secondary, questions like will a promising second-year starter join the ranks of the league’s best at his position?
It’s the expectation for cornerback Nate Wiggins, according to ESPN’s Ben Solak. He included Wiggins on a list of 10 players gridiron fans can expect big things from in the new campaign.
Solak’s case for Wiggins is based on him being “nominally the Ravens’ CB2 last season, starting as a rookie opposite veteran Brandon Stephens. But he was functionally their CB1. Highly competitive and physical at the line of scrimmage, Wiggins played his best ball against his best opponents (Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Malik Nabers). He wasn’t perfect, but rookie corners rarely are.”
The Ravens are hoping Wiggins “plays with greater consistency, he’ll be considered one of the league’s better starting corners. And the team is banking on that improvement because its outside corner depth behind Wiggins is perilously thin. He needs to be the guy.”
Those are lofty expectations, but Wiggins has a first-round pedigree as the 30th player selected in the 2024 NFL draft. He was drafted to be a matchup corner, and the Ravens got enough glimpses of Wiggins’ upside as a rookie to reasonably expect shutdown performances this year.
Buzz Is Building About Ravens CB Nate Wiggins
Solak isn’t the only observer predicting big things for Wiggins. Others believe the former Clemson ace is set to become a superstar.
Defensive coordinator Zach Orr is obviously a member of the Wiggins fan club, and the play-caller needs a cornerback capable of taking away the best wide receiver the Ravens face each week. As Solak pointed out, Wiggins showed potential in this demanding role last season.
One of his best outings came against a fellow rookie, New York Giants wideout Malik Nabers. Wiggins successfully blanketed Nabers in the end zone multiple times when the two teams met in Week 15, per highlights from Ravens.com Editorial Director Ryan Mink.
Those reps were standout moments from a debut campaign not without challenges for Wiggins. The 21-year-old did allow 14.2 yards per completion, per Pro Football Reference.
That number will surely improve as the Ravens improve their pass defense. It’s going to be a challenge given their lack of depth.
Ravens Short in the Secondary
The season-ending injury suffered by Ar’Darius Washington in May has robbed the Ravens of one of the most versatile defensive backs on the roster. Washington can play either safety spot and even slot corner, but the Ravens are left scrambling for solutions without him.
One possible solution would be to play All-Pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey in the slot more often. Or to rely on a much-needed new arrival to pick up the slack inside.
Either of those moves can help settle the picture at cornerback, but the Ravens still need help coping without Washington at safety. Help a Super Bowl-winning free agent would provide.
There’s room for a fresh face or two if the Ravens are going to avoid entering the season with threadbare depth. Doing so would leave Orr’s defense overly reliant on players like Wiggins to surpass already heightened expectations.
James Dudko covers the New York Giants, Washington Commanders, New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens for Heavy.com. He has covered the NFL and world soccer since 2011, with bylines at FanSided, Prime Time Sports Talk and Bleacher Report before joining Heavy in 2021. More about James Dudko
