What the general manager and head coach said about each pick.

The Baltimore Ravens came away with one of the better hauls in the league during the 2024 NFL Draft and after each of the three days of action, general manager Eric DeCosta and head coach John Harbaugh shared their initial thoughts on each pick and what went into the evolution process that made them great fits for the team.

Here is what the team’s top two decision-makers had to say about the nine-man draft class which they hope will have a profound impact on their outlook for the 2024 season.

“In my opinion, [he’s] the best cover corner in the Draft. [He’s] highly athletic [and has] fantastic feet. Really, in our opinion, [he’s] a guy that can go into being a true shutdown-type corner.”

“For us, it was always, ‘If Nate [is] there, we [are] going to pick.”

“He’ll gain weight. If we get him up there with some of the scouts, he’ll pack it on pretty quick. Get him with ‘Manny’ in the [cafeteria]. We have a plan for him.”

“When I think of Nate [Wiggins], I just think that he is a ridiculous athlete – very, very quick-footed, efficient. He’s fast. He’s tough. He’s competitive. In our division, we play a lot of really good receivers, and you have to get off the field on third downs. And, we were blessed last year to have a lot of depth in the secondary, and it really helped us quite a bit. And this is a guy that can come in here and play meaningful football right away for us. We’re excited about that.”

“I think we just look at everybody differently. We just study the player for who he is, what he does and what he puts on tape. [We] look at his skillset. We talk to people, which is a very important part of the process. We follow the guy around, and I think at that position – it’s a very hard position to play. A lot of guys can’t do it. The biggest thing is – and John always says it – you’ve got to actually cover people. You’ve got to guard people. It’s a hard thing, and Nate has proven that he can do that very, very well. He’s a young player. We love that about him. He’s 20 years old. [He’s] one of the fastest players at the combine. [He’s] silky smooth, and he will compete. He does tackle very well. People at [Clemson] are high on him. We were getting texts from the head coach. Dabo [Swinney] was texting us during the first round [saying], ‘Please take this guy.’ So, we’re just very excited about him.”

Harbaugh:

“You see him as an outside corner, that’s kind of where he’s made his hay, but he plays inside as well, and he did it in college. We’ll just continue to be versatile through those DBs. [We’ll] move them around and let them play in different spots. That gives us another quality starting corner; I’d say we have three legitimate starting corners. He has to come in and prove it and do it and all that, but we expect him to do it. We were excited. We were looking for Nate [Wiggins]. We were in the defensive room, actually Chris Hewitt’s office – [it was] me and about five of the defensive coaches before the Draft started [at] about 7:45 [p.m.], it came up, ‘What if Wiggins falls to us? Wouldn’t that be something?’ We were like, ‘Nah, that’ll never happen. That couldn’t happen, but how good would that look in our defense?’ It worked out, and it came true. So, we’re excited.”

“When you watch the tape; he comes up and smacks people. That’s what he does. He’s not afraid of the physical part of it at all. He’s a complete corner. First of all, he’s rangy, and he can run. He’s got very good feet, he changes direction, he puts his hands on people in press, and he runs up and tackles people with some physicality. The weight doesn’t impede him at all, and he’s going to put on weight; he’s over 180 [pounds] now. He’s a young guy. He’s 20 years old”

“[Nate Wiggins] is coming out for a reason, [and] he’s a first-round pick for a reason. He’s very talented. He’s ready. He thinks he’s ready, [and] his head coach [Dabo Swinney] felt like he was ready [to come] out. And he’s a young guy, but that’s opportunity – the way we look at it – and he’s determined. He’s a motivated guy. He’s talking about that he has a lot to prove. We both got on the phone with him and talked to him, and he’s talking about what he has to prove, so our response was, ‘Alright, let’s come in here next week, and let’s get to work. Let’s get started on it.’ He’s planning on being a hard worker, and if he does that, we’ve got a path for him. We’ve kind of got a plan for him, and we’ll have him ready to go.”