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Cardinals get discouraging injury update on 1st-round pick Walter Nolen

Originally posted on Burn City Sports
By Tanner Tortorella | Last updated Aug 20, 2025 1:21 PM ET

GLENDALE – The Arizona Cardinals injury woes continue to infect the defense. In the past offseason, Arizona has lost two starting-caliber cornerbacks to season-ending injuries, while many other players throughout the roster has dealt with nagging injuries. One of the most demoralizing injury was to this year’s first-round pick Walter Nolen, who’s been out for the entirety of training camp with a nagging calf injury.

Nolen was the team’s prized pick in the 2025 draft, and he hasn’t touched the field, which might continue into the season. According to Arizona Sports John Gambadoro, the Cardinals are expected to place Nolen on the IR design designated return list.

Nolen injury update is bad news for Cardinals:

Per @Gambo987 it sounds like Walter Nolan is expected to open the Cardinal season on the IR design designated to return list

— Blake Allen Murphy (@blakemurphy7) August 19, 2025

The news becomes worse when compared to last year’s first-round pick Darius Robinson, who also dealt with injuries before his rookie season. Robinson also had to deal with the death of his mother during his rehab process, making football the least of his priorities for obvious reasons. The 23-year-old miraculously powered through all that adversity to still play in six ga mes last season and enters this season more motivated than ever.

Arizona will want Nolen to appear in more games than Robinson did his rookie season, as the team clearly had a system in place for the Ole Miss product to learn from key veterans. The Cardinals signed Calais Campbell for likely his final season in the NFL to take Nolen under his wings and teach him his ways.

Nolen can still talk with the 18-year NFL veteran but not having any in-game or training camp reps to have Campbell give notes is tough for his early development. When Nolen was first sidelined with the calf injury, the team made it seem it was strictly a precaution to ensure the 16th overall pick would be ready for Week 1.

However, Nolen will likely miss at minimum the season opener against the New Orleans Saints and add on to the already injury-riddled defense.

This article first appeared on Burn City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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