TEMPE — The NFL regular season still has two weeks of life left, but that hasn’t stopped the Arizona Cardinals’ laundry list of offseason to-dos from piling up.
It grew even more in this past Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Losing both Walter Nolen III and Garrett Williams to season-ending injuries only adds onto the Cardinals’ 2025 woes. But it’s the magnitude of the injuries and what they might mean moving forward that is going to impact how Arizona navigates the offseason.
Williams (Achilles) and Nolen (knee) suffered different ailments in the loss. There was one unfortunate similarity, though, with both going down with noncontact injuries.
There’s fear Williams has reportedly tore his Achilles. Nolen, meanwhile, issued a long Instagram post suggesting he’s also going to be on the shelf long term. His tearful departure as he was carted off said it all.
Just like that, two important pieces on defense for next season are suddenly in question given the time needed for recovery and rehab given the severity of the injuries. And there’s already plenty of question marks floating through the halls Arizona’s training facility.
Not only do the Cardinals have decisions to make within the coaching staff and trainers, the quarterback position (with or without Kyler Murray) and filling holes across a struggling offensive line, Arizona now must have contingency plans for both Nolen and Williams.
When healthy, Nolen had put a lot of good on tape as a rookie, so much so that seeing him start Week 1 seemed like a given.
Now with that up in the air, Arizona’s future at defensive line is murky. Darius Robinson is coming off his best game as a pro but still has plenty to improve upon. Dalvin Tomlinson hasn’t plugged up the middle as well as many expected. He could also be a cut candidate given the cap savings Arizona could see. These last two games could very well be Calais Campbell’s last.
L.J. Collier is an impending free agent and Dante Stills will be entering a contract year.
The Cardinals already needed help at the position, with Nolen and Robinson being two players to build around. Now with Nolen out, that feeling has been multiplied.
It doesn’t get much better looking at the secondary without Williams.
Arizona’s do-it-all cornerback, Williams carved out an important role at nickel while also getting his fill along the outside.
With him sidelined, the onus is that much more on young defensive backs like Rabbit Taylor-Demerson and likely player-to-be-named-later to make a significant jump this offseason.
And that’s before mentioning safety Jalen Thompson’s impending free agency. If he departs, that would mark another impact position in the secondary that needs filling.
Does that happen more through free agency or the NFL Draft? Depends on the thinking (and who’s still with the current regime).
General manager Monti Ossenfort loves him some draft picks. They’re cheap and have yet to be molded at the next level.
But can he afford to go back to the well with a first-round defender after allocating nearly all of his draft capital to that side of the ball in 2025?
The offense needs a serious facelift, especially when looking at the trenches, after injuries and poor play wrecked a lot of the belief many had in the unit coming into the season. Landing the best tackle in the draft would not be a bad idea whatsoever!
And what about quarterback? If Arizona is seriously in the market for a rookie signal caller (they very well could be), a trade up is likely going to be the avenue to do so.
That means extra draft capital — and potentially more — shipped off in the hopes of hitting the signal caller lottery and surpassing other QB-needy teams.
As for the free agency route, landing impact defenders have been hard to come by recently for Ossenfort, save for inside linebacker Mack Wilson Sr.
Justin Jones’ waiving following just three games played across two seasons after being the top free agent signing in 2024 from a financial standpoint says just about all you need to know.
However it happens, it was already going to take some serious maneuvering — mixed in with some good luck and the right tweaks — to properly construct the roster for next year.
Throw in the Nolen and Williams injuries, and the level of difficulty just went up another couple notches.
