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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:
- CB Will Johnson, Michigan
- WR Emeka Egbuka, Ohio St.
- WR Matthew Golden, Texas
- T Josh Simmons, Ohio St.
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.”
To which Monti replied, “you earned it.”
Then to have Will Johnson fall right into their laps at pick #47, was like the ultimate reward for MOJO staying true to their conviction about taking Walter Nolen with their first pick.
This week, JG said that after the Cardinals picked Will Johnson at pick #47, eight defensive coordinators immediately texted him their congratulations for drafting “the best CB in the draft.”
Both Nolen and Johnson come to the Cardinals will various degrees of risk. Monti has seen such risks backfire when he was Director of Player personnel for the Titans after they selected T Isaiah Wilson from Georgia and CB Caleb Farley from Virginia Tech as back-to-back 1st round picks in 2020 and 2021. Both Wilson and Farley were oozing with NFL talent, but Wilson could not hold up mentally, and alas Farley could not hold up physically.
However, we do not know whether Isaiah Wilson and/or Caleb Farley would have been Monti’s top picks. Those picks were made by former Titans’ GM Jon Robinson.
Regardless, with Walter Nolen III and Will Johnson, there are numerous reasons why the Cardinals can expect different outcomes for these two potential NFL stars, the most significant of which is the quality of the time and effort that MOJO put into their research and their follow-up Top 30 visits with Nolen and Johnson.
If Monti and JG had a single inkling that Walter Nolen or Will Johnson would not fit in as key contributors to the team’s ever-blossoming culture, then MOJO would have moved their draft plans in a different direction.
Cardinals’ Fans’ Dream Come True?
This feels like the day that many of us have been longing and wish for where the decision making where the GM, in direct partnership with the head coach, have the complete autonomy to make all of the team’s personnel decisions.
The next step is having MOJO’s personnel decisions translate to consistent wins on the field. The expectations for this season throughout every aspect of the organization, from the front office to the coaches to the players are very high.
Pretty much everyone affiliated with the Cardinals is feeling especially excited.
Very much like the team’s defensive captain, 4-time NFL All-Pro and 7-time Pro Bowler. when he saw the Cardinals drafted Walter Nolen III at pick #16
As did Kyler Murray, who mentioned Walter Nolen by name when asked a week before the draft which players he thought the Cardinals might choose at pick #16.
Doesn’t it feel like everyone in the Cardinals organization for the first time in a long, long time, is walking to the beat of the same drum and signing the same song?
A song like this?
MOJO Risin’!
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