The Denver Broncos have had a number of fascinating pre-draft visits in the weeks leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft. Every visit is notable, even if the player doesn't end up getting drafted by the team, because each NFL franchise is only allowed 30 such visits each NFL Draft cycle.
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The team has hosted a wide variety of notable offensive players in recent weeks, including Ohio State running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson, Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden, Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden, and Bowling Green tight end Harold Fannin Jr. On top of notable names, the Broncos have hosted a bunch of guys who are projected undrafted players that essentially get brought in on early recruiting trips.
The Broncos haven't had a ton of notable potential 1st-round defensive players in the building for visits, which is fascinating in itself, but they used the last day of pre-draft visits to bring in potentially one of the riskiest options they could consider in round one: Ole Miss defensive lineman Walter Nolen.
Broncos host Ole Miss DL Walter Nolen for pre-draft visit
Teams bring in players for top-30 visits for a variety of reasons. It could be to answer medical concerns, get to know a player on a more personal level, or it could be a smokescreen to try and play a little chess. It could be to get intel on a player you feel is likely to be drafted by a division rival.
Or it might be that you just want to check off every box before you're about to draft a guy. The Broncos are said to be very interested in taking a defensive lineman early in this draft (within their top three picks), and Nolen would be one of the better options on paper.
There are major questions about why he ran so hot and cold at the collegiate level and perhaps even whether or not he took the easy way out by transferring to the loaded Ole Miss defensive line (as if Texas A&M isn't loaded, to be fair).
Nolen's game took a huge step forward at Ole Miss this past season and the former five-star prospect finally started to live up to his billing as an elite prospect. There is no other defensive tackle in this year's incoming class with as many flashes of dominance and brilliance as Walter Nolen, even Mason Graham out of Michigan.
The Broncos likely want to figure out what it is that caused Nolen to run so hot and cold even in a great year at Ole Miss. If you're only playing 40-60 percent of the snaps at the NFL level, you've got to be efficient with those snaps, and your motor can't run cold. Teams invest way too much for that to happen.
For that reason, Nolen is in a unique category as one of the riskiest potential first-round options because most of the other players that are getting projected to land in Denver are guys whose motors always run hot.
The Broncos looked at a lot of guys who could go in the 20-40 range of this draft among their top-30 visits, so perhaps they are interested in moving up from that 51st overall pick to acquire a couple of them.
