Top Draft Pass Rusher Perfect Fit for Cardinals

How many “perfect” fits are there in the 2025 NFL Draft for the Arizona Cardinals? Depending on your criteria, there could be several of those types of “perfect” fits. Between team needs, previous criteria and/or trends from the last two drafts, or some kind of loose connection between the team and the player, we can link guys to the Cards until we’re blue in the face.

We’re on to a series where we look at some of the 2025 class’ top players, notably guys who are predicted or heavily speculated to go on day one of the draft.

The top needs for Arizona are some order of edge rusher, interior defensive line, and offensive line upgrades, with other positions like linebacker and wide receiver needing more depth.

This breakdown features one of my personal favorite prospects, interior defensive lineman Walter Nolen. The former number two overall recruit in 2022 out of high school went from average at Texas A&M to superstar this past season at Ole Miss. He’s projecting to only get better, and the Cardinals should have a keen interest in adding him to their defense.

Profile:

Former 5-Star recruit and number two overall in the nation (2022)
Consensus All-American (2024)
First-Team All-SEC (2024)
35 career games

The fit:

If an edge rusher isn’t the biggest need for the Cardinals, then it’s an interior defensive lineman. Arizona swung and missed last offseason with two free agent signings, Bilal Nichols and Justin Jones. Dante Stills is currently the only interior defender worth seeing significant playing time.

Nolen showed incredible growth in his lone season with the Rebels after two subpar seasons with Texas A&M. His ability to rush the passer was on full display and he anchored the interior of the line well, too.

Having both of those traits makes him a possible three-down defensive tackle – a rare bed in today’s NFL.

The logic:

Again, there are little to no interior defenders who deserve significant playing time, but rather should be rotated in. However, even with a rotation there still needs to be standout who can anchor the group. Nolen can be that guy.

What makes Nolen so fascinating to me is how athletic he is even at his imposing size. Plugging in a guy like that to a defensive line that lacks anything remotely close to that as a group will be what turns this bad boy around.

And for what it’s worth, Monti Ossenfort has shown a tendency to favor former top recruits, and Nolen would be the highest recruit he would have taken in three drafts.

Day one role:

Plug-and-play starter. The end.

But to expand a bit more, Nolen is a great run defender and has shown how great he can become as a pass rusher. The upside of Nolen has never been questioned, but now that he’s tapping into it… it feels inevitable that he could become a Pro Bowler early in his career.

This is an open-and-shut case for him to start, because even if the team opts to favor veterans it would be malpractice to insist on playing them over Nolen.

Sure, he could be rotated to start his career, but he’ll quickly prove why he should hardly be off the field.