Walter Nolen injury update: Jonathan Gannon reports Arizona Cardinals DL 'progressing well'
Arizona Cardinals first round pick and former Ole Miss defensive lineman Walter Nolen suffered a calf injury earlier in fall camp. Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon updated the status of Nolen on Thursday.
Nolen’s working to get back and he’s missed a large portion of training camp. There’s still the potential that he misses some regular season time.
“He’s doing well, he’s progressing right where he should be progressing,” Gannon said. “Hasn’t had any, I don’t want to say the word setbacks, but hasn’t had any setbacks. He’s progressing well.”
For Nolen, who was the 16th overall pick, he signed a lucrative rookie contract reportedly for four years and worth $19.3 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deal also included a $10.7 million signing bonus.
Nolen is coming off a season in which he logged career highs with 48 tackles, 14.0 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries and three passes defended. He did that at Ole Miss, transferring to the Rebels after spending two seasons with the Texas A&M Aggies out of high school.
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In his career, Nolen has totaled 114 tackles, 26.0 tackles for a loss, 11.5 sacks, three fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and four passes defended.
The Cardinals are hopeful he can get the defensive line going out in the desert.
“We wanted to have a more disruptive defensive unit. We think we’ve added players that can help us do that,” Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort said in April. “And again, when we find players that can affect the middle of the pocket, it puts a lot of stress on the offense. And so Walter is another guy that we think can do that, can help us do that.”
Nolen was the second Ole Miss defensive lineman taken by the Cardinals in the last nine years. Robert Nkemdiche was drafted by Arizona as the 29th overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft.
“I just want to learn their process. I still get to be a kid a little bit,” Nolen said of joining the Cardinals defensive lineman room. “Just get in there, learn their process, learn how they do things and just implement it into my process.”
