Why Walter Nolen's Slow Start Isn't Worrying Cardinals

ARIZONA — Walter Nolen III was supposed to be a game-changer in 2026.

So far, he's only been a bystander.

Nolen's rookie season — marred by injuries — gave Cardinals fans a great deal of hope on the former first-round pick. Nolen was impactful in a short window and legitimately looked like a player who could dominate in the trenches for years to come.

In fact, for our preseason player rankings, we placed Nolen in the first tier of franchise cornerstones.

Nolen, who has in fairness commanded double teams and attention along the defensive line, has failed to be the standout everybody hoped he'd be to start 2026. Nolen doesn't have any quarterback sacks on the season and has just four tackles to pair.

Mike LaFleur says he isn't worried about Nolen.

“Yes, he just needs to keep going at it. I love Walt and he wants it really, really, really bad. And that's what I respect," said LaFleur.

"I look at people's intentions, and I know his intentions are that he wants to help this team and he wants to be productive. He just needs to keep going. Like I told him today, I said, 'You know how many people sack (49ers QB) Brock Purdy this year? Zero. So you and countless others have yet to get to him.' That's a credit to (49ers Head Coach) Kyle (Shanahan) and that's a credit to their players.

"With that being said, we have a high standard, and we need to find ways to not worry about what other teams haven't done, and we have to do it.”

Speaking with reporters earlier this season, Nolen described himself as the heartbeat of the defense.

"I feel like I'm the heartbeat of the defense. A lot of times, I feel like when I'm on the field, things move a little bit differently. So as long as I'm out there, I feel like we're gonna kick ass," he said.

Thus far, that hasn't been the case. Nolen's jump in play entering his second season was mandatory if the Cardinals' defense was going to take a step in the right direction. Nolen isn't the only defensive star to have a slow start out of the gates, as names such as Budda Baker and Josh Sweat have had less than impressive outings.

Other players around Nolen stepping up would only help his impact. For as good as Nolen can be, very few are capable of being a one-man wrecking crew.

Arizona's pass rush has largely been lackluster to begin the season. LaFleur knows that and the domino effect it creates, too.

“Like I just kind of said to Walt, but I'd say to all the other guys, 'Hey, just keep going.' It was one game where we didn't get to them," LaFleur said when asked what the front needs to do to impact the quarterback.

"I thought that in the first game, we rushed the passer pretty well. Unfortunately, versus Seattle we never had the lead. It's tougher to get to the quarterback in some of those. It wasn't like they were scatting all five guys out and they were just in five-man protection. They were loading it up, I'm talking (about) Seattle, (with) keepers, play pass and all that where they're in more max protection (and it was) a little harder to get there. We didn't do our job on offense to allow them to pin their ears back and go.

"Last week, again we kind of buried ourselves a little bit. I thought there were opportunities (with) the way that San Francisco does their offense that we need to affect them a little bit more. We didn't, so here we are going into Week 4. (We'll) put together the best plan. Let's go practice, let's go detail it up, and then let's get after it on Sunday.”

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