TEMPE, Ariz. – After the Atlanta Falcons made their selection Thursday night, Randall Joyner turned to his wife at his home in Oxford, Miss., and predicted what was about to unfold: “This is the pick,’’ he said.
Joyner, the defensive line coach at Ole Miss, had heard earlier that Walter Nolen, the prized defensive tackle he had coached last season, would not drop past the Arizona Cardinals and the No.16 pick of the NFL Draft. Minutes later, Joyner was proven correct.
“We talked about this six to eight months ago,’’ Joyner said by phone Thursday night. “I said, ‘Hey man, this is the plan.’ And he put his head down and went to work. It’s just really cool. This is one of my favorite times of year, to see a dream turn into a reality.’’
Since the Cardinals hired general manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon in 2023, the reconstruction plan in the desert has been clear. As much as possible, they would re-build the Cardinals through the trenches. So far that vision over two seasons has lifted Arizona from four wins to eight. The next step is reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2021. And it involves the 21-year-old Nolen.
“The tape spoke for itself,” Ossenfort said after the draft’s first round. “Violent, disruptive, high…
