Steelers Predicted to Select NFL’s Smallest Corner in Round 1 of New Mock Draft

Getty The Pittsburgh Steelers were predicted to draft Nate Wiggins in a new mock draft

There are sure to be plenty of teams around the NFL that are reconsidering their draft board following the conclusion of this year’s combine. The Pittsburgh Steelers could be one of those teams.

The Steelers have a bunch of different directions they could go with their first-round pick in the 2024 draft, which meant there were quite a few players with a chance to endear themselves to Pittsburgh’s front office with an impressive performance.

It seems one player’s big performance might have been enough to help his draft stock.

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein released his most recent mock draft on March 4 and he had Pittsburgh selecting one of the combine’s standouts.

Zierlein predicted that the Steelers would use the 20th pick in the draft to select Clemson cornerback Nate Wiggins.

Wiggins’ NFL Combine Performance

The NFL Combine was a bit of a mixed bag for Wiggins.

There were some positives in his measurements. Standing a bit taller than 6’1″ and with a wingspan that is just over 74 inches, Wiggins has good length for an NFL corner.

Unfortunately, he also weighed in at 173 pounds. According to The 33rd Team, that would make Wiggins the smallest corner in the NFL. That lack of size will create concerns about his ability to get physical with receivers at the line of scrimmage and about potential difficulty staying healthy.

Then Wiggins got the chance to show off his athleticism and he did not disappoint.

The All-ACC corner ran the 40-yard dash in 4.28 seconds. That was the fastest time among cornerbacks in this year’s draft class and was the second best time in the class at all positions, only finishing behind Xavier Worthy’s record-breaking effort.

Wiggins suffered a hip flexor injury during the run, but it’s not an injury that teams are going to be worried about heading into the draft.

The speed that Wiggins showed off at the combine should have the Steelers interested in making him their CB2.

Steelers’ Need for Speed

There has already been plenty of time spent talking about how badly the Steelers need to add a starting cornerback this offseason.

The team is still a corner short in spite of Joey Porter Jr.’s success as a rookie.

However, just bringing in a talented corner might not be enough for the Steelers. Their need might be a bit more specific than that.

The Steelers lack speed in their secondary. They only have two defensive backs that ran the 40 in less than 4.5 seconds and they’re both over 30 years old now.

That lack of speed contributed to their difficulties preventing opposing receivers from making big gains. They allowed opposing receivers to gain 12 yards per catch, which put them among the league’s worst teams in that category.

Wiggins’ size may carry some concerns, especially for a Steelers team that has a reputation for physicality, but his speed would give the defense something it lacked in 2023.

With their elite pass rush options and a defense that was already allowing one of the league’s lowest completion percentages in 2023, a speedy corner to line up alongside Porter Jr. could be the answer they’ve been looking for.

He has a lot of competition at his own position and the Steelers could also look to fill other needs with the pick, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see them select Wiggins at the end of April.