Arizona Cardinals draft DT Walter Nolen with 16th overall pick
PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — The Arizona Cardinals decided to go defense with their first-round pick.
The franchise used the No. 16 overall pick to choose defensive tackle Walter Nolen from Ole Miss. He was a consensus All-American last year. Legendary college coach Nick Saban called it a “fantastic” pick. Some experts have called him an explosive yet inconsistent player.
ESPN’s Peter Schrager projected him to go the San Francisco 49ers and said he’d be “shocked” if Nolen fell out of the top 15.
Nolen was a five-star high school recruit in Tennessee before playing for Texas A&m and Ole Miss. While he’s under 300 pounds, which is a little small for a defensive lineman, he had 14 tackles for a loss and 6.5 sacks in the 2024 season for the Rebels.
Nolen said during the Scouting combine he had a “violent” game and hoped to be a comp with future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald. “Aaron Donald was a smaller player in the league,” Nolen said then. “I look up to him. I try to do the same things he did.”
Nolen knew there were questions about his maturity and motor on the field. He said he appreciated that the Cardinals seemed genuinely interested in hearing his side of the story. “The Cardinals took a chance on me and I’m blessed for that,” Nolen said. “Can’t wait to get there.”
Third-year Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort said they didn’t have any character concerns about Nolen. Some of Arizona’s coaches have worked with the Ole Miss staff in the past, and Gannon said they got positive reports from those connections.
“The tape spoke for itself,” Ossenfort said. “Violent, disruptive, high motor, tenacious, three-down player. Hard to find those guys that can affect the pocket from the interior of the formation.”
Said Gannon: “This guy’s a Cardinal, 1,000 percent.”
The Cardinals have five more picks in the NFL draft.
It was unclear who the Cardinals were going to choose. They weren’t desperate for any position. Some experts had the team stockpiling talent on the defensive line after having an inconsistent pass rush over the past few seasons. Linebacker was another position that could use a talented addition.
The Red Birds are looking to build on their 8-9 record last season after finishing with a 4-13 mark in 2022 and 2023. The team is set at quarterback with Kyler Murray entering his seventh NFL season and under contract through 2028. The Cardinals also locked up their young tight end Trey McBride to a long-term deal last month. Last year, they picked Marvin Harrison Jr. in the NFL draft with the No. 4 overall selection. He finished the season with 62 catches for 885 yards and eight touchdowns. The team’s No. 27 overall selection last year, defensive lineman Darius Robinson, missed most of the season with a calf injury.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
