Revenge of the Birds
Didn’t the 2025 NFL Draft feel different for the Cardinals than in years past?
Didn’t the 2025 NFL Draft feel different for the Cardinals than in years past?
The #16 pick had nothing to do with appeasing the Cardinals’ fans wishes —- or made as a means to sell more season tickets —-
There were “sexier” prospects on the board at #16 than DT Walter Nolan. Let’s face it.
Here are just a few:
Had the Cardinals picked any one of those four high profile players, the roars from Cardinals’ fans would have been raucous.
Last year, it appeared that the “Tank for Marvin” fan fever was too pervasive for the Cardinals’ front office to ignore.
But this year, when Jonathan Gannon expounded on his Day 1 emotions heading into the #16 pick and how, all along, his guy was DT Walter Nolen III of Ole Miss, it became crystal clear that JG was wishing this pick into a reality.
The irony is that Cardinals’ fans who were locked into Will Johnson in similar ways to how they were locked into Marvin Harrison Jr. came around pretty quickly into feeling excited about Walter Nolen III, even though many of the fans were insisting that after Monti adeptly signed DT Dalvin Tomlinson and DE Calais Campbell in free agency that adding more talent to the interior of the defensive line was no longer a need.
After Monti made offensive tackle and wide receiver his top priorities in 2023 and 2024, it now seems clear that this time around he was eager and willing to make JG’s top priority the team’s top priority. JG explained how he enumerated the reasons for prioritizing Walter Nolen III at length to his GM.
What’s stunning about the decision is how tempted JG could have been to switch his allegiances over to CB Will Johnson, especially after having such a productive Top 30 visit with him.
Instead, JG stuck to his conviction that Walter Nolen III was the best choice for the Cardinals’ defense. Obviously, JG experienced a remarkable bonding with Walter Nolan III during his Top 30 visit with the Cardinals, to the point where the first thing that JG said to Walter Nolen III on the congratulations call was “What did I tell you, man?”
Nolen quickly replied, “Yes, you did. Send me that book!”
Conviction Rewarded
One can imagine that when JG sat down with Walter Nolen, he discussed the rumors about Nolen’s reputation for taking plays off and for not always being focused during practices while he was at Texas A&M. Therefore, whatever Walter Nolen’s explanation was, it must have felt sincere and truthful enough to convince JG that the All-American defensive tackle had turned that old yellow page into a new green leaf.
It was meaningful to hear Walter Nolen thank Monti Ossenfort for “taking a chance on me.”...
