When Walter Nolen stood at his locker earlier this month, speaking to reporters for the first time this season, it served as a sort of bat signal. Often, these scrums will draw half the assembled media, while others linger elsewhere, away from the TV cameras. Not this time. When Nolen spoke, the throng formed instantly, eager to hear anything and everything the second-year defensive tackle had to say.
This is life for Nolen now.
On a defense that offers few clear reasons for optimism, he is the exception, a budding star with the ability to wreck any game at any time.
That much was immediately clear to Mike LaFleur last year, when he was the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive coordinator, preparing his group for a late-season trip to Arizona.
“When we studied the Arizona Cardinals last year, when Walt was out there compared to when he wasn't, was a different tape at times,” LaFleur said.
Despite playing in just six games, Nolen ranked third among all Cardinals players in sacks and sixth in pressures. Had he seen enough snaps to qualify, his 15.1% pressure rate — per Pro Football Focus — would have led all interior defensive linemen.
In his preseason debut against the Las Vegas Raiders last week, Nolen stoked optimism that the encore can be even better. If you saw a Cardinals player in the opposing backfield, it was a safe bet that Nolen was the culprit. He finished the day with three pressures and a sack on 13 pass-rush snaps, in addition to a few excellent reps against the run.
All of this is especially crucial for the Cardinals, given the state of their roster.
Nolen, along with Josh Sweat (who remains on PUP), is the centerpiece of their defensive front. Beyond that pair, it gets murky fast.
Zaven Collins, Baron Browning and Jordan Burch are their next three edge rushers. None has ever topped five sacks in a season. Darius Robinson, Roy Lopez, Dante Stills, L.J. Collier and Andrew Billings are their next five defensive tackles. Robinson was graded as the worst defensive lineman in the NFL last season, per PFF, while the other four are veterans making a combined $12.3 million against the cap. The league has shown how it values them.
Their head coach, meanwhile, is on the record emphasizing the importance of a stout front.
“I can't say I've been a very good football team that didn't have a very good defensive line that wreaked havoc,” LaFleur said. “... That D-line, they've gotta cause havoc up there, snap in and snap out.”
Put that puzzle together, and it’s clear to see the pressure stacked on Nolen’s shoulders. As Collins put it this week, defensive lines need players who can “change the math” and single-handedly ruin an offense’s play design. Nolen, with the first-step burst that made him the 16th overall pick in 2025, is that type of player.
But when you ask the Cardinals coaching staff about him, there’s a strange consensus.
To a man, they acknowledge his elite traits. Senior defensive analyst Teryl Austin has described him as “damn talented” and as having “a very high ceiling.” Defensive line coach Pete Kwiatkowski noted that “he does a lot of things you can’t coach.” LaFleur has repeatedly praised his explosiveness.
And yet, they each make the same point: Nolen can be even better.
“It's a work in progress,” Kwiatkowski said. “Eye control, pad level, hand placement. He does things that he can get away with cause of his ability that, as a coach, you're like, ‘Good play, we can't do that all the time.’ Or, ‘Don't do that again.’”
LaFleur offered the same tone this week when asked about Nolen’s performance against the Raiders.
“There were some disruptive times, just like you guys saw,” LaFleur said. “But we've still got a long way to go.”
In another answer, LaFleur pointed — unprompted — to “some correctable moments.” Given the dominance that Nolen flashed, it was a somewhat surprising series of caveats, far from the full-throated praise that may have been expected.
A day later, LaFleur was asked about his unusual response.
“I really like Walt,” LaFleur said. “Walt can be as good as he wants to be. I know that. I know his teammates know that. And Walt's a good person. And now it's just about stacking those days.”
In a press conference setting, it’s not hard to read between those lines: The Cardinals want Nolen to get better, and they believe that extracting that next level is entirely in his own control.
To that end, he adjusted his diet this offseason, cutting out junk food and dropping 10 pounds. “I feel more explosive than I was,” Nolen said — a scary prospect, given his rookie year tape. Shedding that weight could also help him play more snaps, with more intensity.
But a month into training camp, the coaching staff is still pleading for more from their most important defensive player.
“It's, hey, every single snap,” LaFleur said. “Every single snap, we've gotta go. Because you have the ability to affect the game. And when you affect the game, it makes the people behind you's job a lot easier. … He has it in him to go do that.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Cardinals are pushing young star Walter Nolan for more
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