The Cardinals\u2019 first-round selection in the NFL draft showcased his rookie sensibilities during his first availability with Arizona media on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m supposed to be doing up here right now,\u201d Mississippi defensive tackle Walter Nolen said from the podium.<\/p>\n
The statement received laughs from coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort, who were standing off to the side, but both know very well Nolen, selected 16th overall, is ready to get to work.<\/p>\n
Nolen didn\u2019t showcase rookie tendencies when he learned the news Thursday night. During a life-changing phone call, Nolen made sure to tell Gannon to \u201csend me the playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has been a hectic 24 hours for the rookie, but it was also a weight lifted off his shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cReady to get to work,\u201d Nolen said. \u201cCelebrate for two days, but it\u2019s time to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his junior season at Ole Miss, Nolen recorded 48 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries. Those stats earned him accolades including first team All-American by the Associated Press, USA Today, ESPN and The Athletic.<\/p>\n
His twitch and explosive power made him an intriguing prospect for many teams, and it was hard to see him falling out of the first round. He can line up anywhere on the line, bringing more versatility to the Cardinals\u2019 pass rush, and more importantly, he affects the run and pass game, allowing him to be on the field at all times.<\/p>\n
None of those attributes surprised the Cardinals brass.<\/p>\n
\u201c(He\u2019s a) guy we did a lot of work on,\u201d Ossenfort said Thursday night. \u201cScouts through the fall, Senior Bowl and through the combine. (We) brought Walter in for (one of the 30 eligible draft prospects visits). He impressed us the whole way. Tape spoke for himself: violent, disruptive, high motor, tenacious, three-down player. Hard to find those guys that can affect the pocket from the interior.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cardinals entered the offseason with needs on the defensive side of the ball. They particularly wanted to solidify one level of the defense: the line. The Cardinals added Josh Sweat, Dalvin Tomlinson and Calais Campbell while re-signing L.J. Collier and Baron Browning. In last year\u2019s first round, the team addressed the defensive line, selecting Darius Robinson.<\/p>\n
With many bodies in the defensive line room, pressure is minimal for Nolen to come in immediately and be a game-wrecker. He can take time to learn from the heavy veteran presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to learn their process,\u201d Nolen said. \u201cI still get to be a little kid a little bit because I got all the OGs in the room, so getting in there learning their process, how they do things and implementing it in my daily schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the negatives surrounding Nolen during the pre-draft process were character concerns. His skill was worthy of a first-round pick, but some reports questioned his character, which Gannon quickly shot down following the selection.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a huge heart,\u201d Gannon said. \u201cIt was awesome in the pre-draft process getting to know him. I don\u2019t know what narratives or anything like that are, but I make up my mind, and this guy is a Cardinal 1,000%.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Nolen stepped up to the podium, he made sure to thank the people nearby: his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to shout out all these folks in the front row,\u201d Nolen said. \u201cWithout them, I probably wouldn\u2019t even be here right now, so they get a round of applause real quick.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cardinals\u2019 first-round selection in the NFL draft showcased his rookie sensibilities during his first availability with Arizona…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2078],"tags":[375,390,2757,2604,1327,7,7062,6,16,1485],"class_list":{"0":"post-22650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-cardinals","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-arizona-cardinals","10":"tag-arizona-cardinals-draft","11":"tag-arizonacardinals","12":"tag-cardinals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-jonathan-gannon","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-nfl-draft-2025","17":"tag-walter-nolen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114448529134384243","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}