The NFL Draft is right around the corner and the Dallas Cowboys have welcomed a plethora of projected first-round picks to The Star for 30 visits.
The team continues to show interest in Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden, who had his official visit on Thursday, but it is still anyone's guess what they do with the No. 12 overall pick.
Early on, Ashton Jeanty was the player most frequently mocked to Dallas. Now, analysts have zeroed in on Golden and Arizona receiver Tetairoa McMillan. It seems the Cowboys want to come out of the first round with their new WR2 to deploy opposite CeeDee Lamb.
While WR2 is arguably the biggest need, it's not the roster's only pressure point. Cornerback, defensive tackle, edge rusher and linebacker could all benefit from adding a high draft pick.
The only problem about drafting a DT at 12? Mason Graham (likely) isn't falling and Ole Miss talent Walter Nolen is the only other prospect worthy of being drafted that high. And he comes with a lot of baggage, as an NFL executive laid out to ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler.
Cowboys might regret taking Ole Miss DT Walter Nolen in first round of NFL Draft
While one veteran defensive NFL coach thinks Nolen has the highest ceiling of any player in the draft, one executive raised major red flags about the former Rebel.
Fowler noted that multiple scouts have "maturity concerns" about Nolen, and multiple scouting reports revealed Nolen has a track record of storming off the field in the middle of practice due to frustration. That passion is commendable, but Nolen needs to learn to harness it.
An NFL personnel executive told Fowler that Nolen is "searching for solutions" to remedy his bad habits. The exec also said that any team that drafts Nolen will have their hands full and need a "real plan" to keep him on the right path.
Nolen has all the physical tools to be a disruptive force in the NFL, but he only had one good season in college. He had two subpar seasons at Texas A&M before transferring to Ole Miss, where he posted 6.5 sacks, 25 hurries and 14 tackles for loss in 2024.
Pass rush is the name of Nolen's game, but he also tallied a 91.6 run-defense grade last season and an incredible 10.9% run-stop rate, per Pro Football Focus. We'll see how that translates to the NFL, but he certainly has the ability to impact games in both phases.
That still doesn't make us comfortable drafting Nolen 12th overall, however.
A three-tech DT is not a glaring need after Dallas extended Osa Odighizuwa. It certainly couldn't hurt bolstering the interior pass rush, but the one-tech position is a much bigger question mark. Texas behemoth Alfred Collins is a much better fit for the Cowboys relative to Nolen.
When you couple the state of the roster with Nolen's maturity concerns, Dallas should probably lean elsewhere with the No. 12 pick. He'd be hard to pass up at pick No. 44 in the second round, but the Cowboys can do a lot better in round one.
