2025 NFL Draft Film Breakdown: Is Walter Nolen What Bengals' Pass Rush is Missing?

Walter Nolen is a former 5 star recruit from the state of Tennessee. He initially played for Texas A&M but transferred to Ole Miss for the 2024 season.

Nolen then went on to become a consensus first team All-American for the Rebels. Nolen measures in at 6-foot-3, 293 pounds. That is a tad slim for an NFL defensive tackle.

Let's take a look at the film:

Where He Excels

Explosive and twitchy athleticism that allows him to fire off of the ball.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) February 19, 2025

Working with Nolen’s twitchy lower half is a powerful upper half that allows him to bench press guards and get knock back on contact.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) February 19, 2025

Not only is he twitchy as an athlete, but he has some flexibility to him as well. For a big body he can turn a corner. He also has good balance to keep himself upright when put into bad positions.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) February 19, 2025

Utilizes a shimmy and stutter as a pass rusher to change the timing of his rush and keep OL off balance.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) February 19, 2025

Has a motor that runs white hot. When he’s on the field he will be giving it everything he’s got. This can lead to late sacks and give him quite a bit of range as a defensive tackle.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) February 19, 2025

Areas of Concern

Weirdly does not maintain contact on his bull rush. He punches rather than keeping his arm extended which can allow offensive linemen to get back into plays a little but easier. These punches can be devastating but it creates a lot of variance in his bull rush.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) February 19, 2025

Does not have the best anchor in the run game and was moved against double teams fairly often. Could even get torqued out of his gap when blocked one on one as well.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) February 19, 2025

Reported off field concerns, but unclear if that's a real issue or not.

Overall Thoughts

Nolen is a violent and twitchy athlete who can create havoc as a defensive tackle.

As a pass rusher he can utilize his get off, power, and flexibility to win and turn those wins into quarterback hits and sacks. He understands how to utilize tempo on his rushes to get linemen to overset and give him a clear way to win across their face.

Nolen has a very powerful club move to help him win inside or outside, but until he turns his bull rush into a more consistent threat, he will not win through the offensive linemen routinely. He has all the makings of a top pass rusher that just needs a little bit of help to transition his raw ability into production on the field.

As a run defender, Nolen is a little bit more dicey. He can win for big tackle for losses by using his athletic ability but was more volatile than expected when asked to just hold his gap. He has decent arm length that is not utilized enough because he does not reach full extension all that often.

He also was not dependable when it came to holding his own against double teams. He could split them and have awe inspiring plays at times but it was fairly erratic. There were enough examples of him getting blasted out of his gap by the double team that it raised concerns about his work against them at the NFL level.

Nolen also played in a scheme that was not translatable to the NFL on down to down. A majority of plays featured stunts and slants and he was not asked to just play the blocks in front of him all that often. This was even true as a pass rusher where he would often slant rather than try to just pin his ears back and beat the player in front of him.

Schematic Fit

Nolen is a penetrating 3-technique that can be asked to get up field or cross face against the run. Should bring some pass rush juice to any team that drafts him.

NFL Comparison

Corey Liuget

Grade

Early 2nd Round

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