Arizona Cardinals rookie Jeremiyah Love is officially done with preseason after suffering a high-ankle sprain in his very first game last Thursday. This isn’t just some random ding, either. The dude logged a heavy 14-touch outing, running the ball 11 times and catching three passes in their preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders. Now, the team is just hoping he can be ready for Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers, but his preseason is definitely over.
The Price Tag and the Puzzling Play Call
When a running back gets double-digit carries in a preseason game, it usually screams “fighting for a roster spot.” But for Love, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft? That’s definitely not the case. The Cardinals made a controversial move drafting him that high, the highest for a running back since Trent Richardson in 2012. And get this: they’re paying him over $53 million guaranteed! That’s more guaranteed money than both Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson received on their new extensions. You’d think they’d protect that kind of investment a bit better, right?
First-year Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur had to defend the heavy workload after news broke that Love’s ankle injury might be worse than expected. He basically said, “Look, he hadn’t played, and we wanted to see how he’d handle it.” LaFleur even admitted he hadn’t told the players his exact plan for how much these guys would play! So, was LaFleur just trying to get a read on his star rookie, or did he totally misplay his hand early on?
A History of Shared Loads and a Suddenly Thin Backfield
This whole situation is especially wild when you consider Love wasn’t exactly a workhorse in college. At Notre Dame, even as the lead back the past two seasons, he only touched the ball 20 times or more in four of his 41 career games. He had fellow first-rounder Jadarian Price sharing a big chunk of the load then too. LaFleur himself even said at the start of camp that he didn’t want to overload Love or Tyler Allgeier, saying, “Not one running back can take all 65 snaps. We’ve seen that story when guys are a little bit overloaded.” Well, guess that came back to bite them.
Now, Love is sidelined for a few weeks, and a backfield that already included James Conner, Tre Benson, and recent signing Tyler Allgeier suddenly looks a bit thin. Talk about starting the season with a headache. You gotta wonder if this heavy workload was just a fluke injury, or if Arizona brought this upon themselves. This is going to be a fascinating story to watch as the regular season kicks off. Will Love even be 100% when he does finally hit the field?
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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