Cardinals Former First Round Pick Named as Breakout Candidate
· Yahoo Sports
The Arizona Cardinals aren’t likely to make waves this season. After a 3-14 season and no real change at the quarterback position, the Cardinals are set for another poor season.
This year will be more about the team seeing what they have in their young players and whether they’ll be a part of future rosters.
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Gordon McGuinness of PFF made a list of breakout candidates for all 32 NFL teams. Most teams had forgotten or not well-known players as their candidates. But Arizona might have had one of the more recognizable names on the list in defensive lineman Walter Nolen.
Who Is the Arizona Cardinals’ Defensive Lineman?
The Cardinals selected Nolen in the first round (16th overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft. He was a standout defensive lineman at the University of Mississippi and Texas A&M.
Nolen’s rookie season started late due to a calf injury, as he didn’t make his debut until November 3, and ended prematurely on December 21 due to a knee injury.
In six games with Arizona, Nolen had two sacks and a defensive touchdown with five tackles for a loss. Because of how bad the Cardinals’ defense was, he was one of four players to register two or more sacks. McGuinness thinks he’s close to breaking out.
“Nolen showed some encouraging flashes during his rookie season in Arizona, but he played just 169 snaps, limiting his overall impact,” McGuinness wrote. “He generated 15 pressures on 99 pass-rushing snaps, earned an 80.1 PFF pass-rush grade and recorded at least three pressures in three of the four games in which he had 15 or more pass-rushing snaps. The key for Nolen will be staying on the field, but if he can, there’s a chance he emerges as Arizona’s best defensive player by the end of the season.”
Despite playing in 43% of defensive snaps, McGuinness believes that he will get a more involved role in Arizona.
Can Nolen Break Out?
Nolen definitely has the ability to break out. It’s just a matter of can he stay healthy? While his college career gave no indications that he will be injury-prone, it’s still a concern.
Knee injuries are always tricky and explosiveness can take a while to come back. Either way, he will be heavily leaned upon this season. The loss of Calais Campbell in free agency complicates things for Arizona.
While Campbell had just 6.5 sacks in 2025, he was a ferocious presence on the defensive line and finished second on the team in sacks.
Edge rusher Josh Sweat will be carrying a lot of the load during the season, if he even remains a Cardinal.
Nolen could be in for a huge season just because of not having many mouths to feed on the D-line.
If Nolen breaks out, it would be huge for a Cardinals defense that lacks playmakers, especially on the defensive line. Either way, don’t expect much from the Cardinals defense this year, or the entire team for that matter.
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