It is Super Bowl Sunday, but the Arizona Cardinals aren’t playing in it, so for the fans of 30 of the 32 teams not competing for the world championship, Draft Wire managing editor Jeff Risdon has a new two-round mock draft to consider.
The top pick in the draft is Miami quarterback Cam Ward, who lands with the Tennessee Titans, and the New York Giants take Colorado quarterback Shadeur Sanders third overall.
The Arizona Cardinals pass on a talented and productive pass rusher with the 16th pick to select Ole Miss defensive tackle Walter Nolen.
Nolen’s ability to win dynamically in multiple gaps in both the run and pass game make a nice potential fit in coach Jonathan Gannon’s defensive front. Kenneth Grant is among several other options here.
This selection might bring up a little bit of past trauma for Cardinals fans, who will remember the last time the Cardinals selected a Mississippi defensive lineman in the first round, Robert Nkemdiche.
However, Nolen is different. He isn’t the athletic freak that Nkemdiche was and, per his NFL.com draft profile, “Nobody questions how talented he is and how hard he plays.”
Nolen is a high-effort player.
He is 6-foot-3 and 293 pounds. He played two seasons for Texas A&M before transferring to Ole Miss, and he had his most productive season, logging 6.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss.
The Cardinals have a solid group of four defensive linemen returning with veterans Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols, third-year player Dante Stills and 2024 first-round pick Darius Robinson. Adding a player of Nolen’s talent would never be a bad thing.
However, in taking Nolen, they pass on promising edge rusher Mike Green out of Marshall, who had massive production last season, leading the nation with 17 sacks, and looking great at the Senior Bowl. Green gets selected with the very next pick.
In the second round, the Cardinals get West Virginia offensive lineman Wyatt Milum.
The 6-foot-6, 317-pounder played tackle for the Mountaineers. However, his shorter arms (under 33 inches) might make him a better guard. That is no matter. The Cardinals need guards, as Will Hernandez, Evan Brown and Trystan Colon all will be free agents next month.
Would the Cardinals be better off addressing the edge with one of the two picks, especially with a player like Green on the board in Round 1? Perhaps, but getting offensive or defensive line help would never be a bad thing.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
