Following the conclusion of this year’s combine, the pittsburgh steelers were supposed to draft nate wiggins in a new mock draft.
there are certain nfl teams that are considering their draft board. One of those teams may be the pittsburgh steelers.
With their first-round pick in the 2024 draft, the steelers have a slew of options in which to go, so there were quite a few players with a chance to impress pittsburgh’s front office. It seems that one player’s big showing may have been enough to boost his draft stock.
On march 4, nfl.com’s lance zierlein revealed his most recent mock draft, and pittsburgh selected one of the combine’s standouts.
According to zierlein, the steelers will use the 20th pick in the draft to pick clemson cornerback nate wiggins. Wiggins’ nfl combine results the nfl combine was a bit of a mixed bag for wiggins.
His results revealed some positives. Wiggins is a bit taller than 6’1″ and has a 74-inch wingspan. wiggins is a good size for an nfl corner.
He also weighed in at 173 pounds, which was unfortunate.
Wiggins would be the nfl’s smallest corner, according to the 33rd team. That lack of size will lead to doubts about his ability to get physical with receivers at the line of scrimmage and his potential for injury.
Wiggins had the opportunity to show off his athleticism, and he did not disappoint. The all-acc corner completed the 40-yard dash in 4.28 seconds.
That was the fastest time among cornerbacks in this year’s draft class and the second best time in the class at all positions, only coming behind xavier worthy’s record-breaking effort.
During the run, wiggins sustained a hip flexor injury, but teams aren’t worried about it going into the draft. The steelers should be interested in getting wiggins’ cb2 due to his speed at the combine.
Steelers’ need for speed there has already been a lot of talk about how difficult it is for the steelers to add a starting cornerback this offseason. Despite joey porter jr.’s success as a rookie, the team is still a corner short.
The steelers could not afford to ignore a talented corner. Their need may be a bit more specific.
In their secondary, the steelers lack agility. They only have two defensive backs who ran the 40 in less than 4.5 seconds, and they’re both over 30 years old now.
They had trouble stopping opposing receivers from making big plays due to their lack of speed. They allowed opposing receivers to gain 12 yards per catch, ranking them among the league’s worst teams in that class.
Wiggins’ size may cause some reservations, particularly for a steelers team that has a reputation for physicality, but his speed would give the defense something it didn’t have in 2023.
With their elite pass rush options and a defense that was already allowing one of the league’s lowest completion rates in 2023, a quick corner to line up alongside porter jr. may be the solution they’ve been looking for.
At his own position, he has a lot of competition, and the steelers could also try to satisfy other needs with him, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see them select wiggins at the end of april.
Heavy.com’s john vaccaro covers the nfl, focusing on the pittsburgh steelers and baltimore ravens. He has previously covered nfl, nba, mma, and college sports as an editor and writer for brobible and fansided.
