Ravens' Nate Wiggins' Old Position Created Elite Ball Skills

Wiggins' Physical Advantages

That niche skill is what's made him special, speedy enough to hang with just about any noteworthy pass-catcher around and apprehensive to the point of correctly anticipating where his assignment intends to find open space.

"I rely on my speed a lot, and I played receiver all through high school so I feel like I know a lot of tells about what the receiver's doing before they do it," he said in an interview with On SI. "Not a lot of people can run past me, and it's not a lot of good quarterbacks who can put the ball [there], so I'd rather get beat over than let anyone beat me under.

He's spent his sophomore season demonstrating those instincts on a weekly basis, locking in that aforementioned stop against the New York Jets with his focus remaining a hinderance for the passer. Wiggins doesn't need to know where the ball if he knows exactly what his man's planning, reading a lot more than a wideout's eyes.

That's the part of Wiggins' game that's captured the most approval from those who know where to find the breaks in the game beyond the box score, but he's a lot more than an unshakable shadow. He gives quarterbacks plenty of trouble besides standing in the way, having come down with a team-high three interceptions across 13 games, and can't afford to be a slouch in muscling up against playmakers attempting to bump him out of the way.

"I'm very physical. I feel like folks don't give me that, they just look at my weight, but nah," he clarified. "I'm gonna come up and hit, I'm gonna put hands on a receiver."

The Ravens have a lot of questions to answer about their future, especially apparent after this current roster full of past-their-prime contributors has opened up several areas desperate for improvement. But they're not completely free from useful building blocks, having evidently morphed one of their recent draftees into a potential franchise cornerback.