Arizona Cardinals prized rookie Jeremiyah Love suffered a high ankle sprain in his preseason debut against the Las Vegas Raiders. Fortunately, he's still expected to play Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
That seemed likely given the time Love had time to recover before Arizona's September 13 season opener. Not to mention, the fact that the Cardinals decided to keep just three running backs on their initial 53-man roster was also hinting towards Love's return sooner rather than later.
While Cardinals fans (and fantasy owners) are understandably eager to see the Ferrari come out of the garage and have the recent No. 3 overall pick in action for meaningful football, we also must temper expectations as Love comes back from this injury.
Not to say we expect it to hurt his performance or efficiency; rather, the volume may not be as high as some anticipate. Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur even has Tyler Allgeier listed as the team's starting running back in their recently released Week 1 depth chart.
Cardinals are playing the long game with Jeremiyah Love
This was going to be a committee approach regardless. However, it could suggest that Love is on the short end of that timeshare in the short term as they ramp up his touches -- a 40-60 split compared to the 60-40 split we could see later in the season, for example. That also shows that even if Love is fully healthy and starting as expected, this isn't going to be a bell-cow situation, as is traditionally the case with such a high draft investment at the position.
"Not one running back can take all 65 snaps," LaFleur said at Cardinals training camp. "We've seen that story when guys are a little bit overloaded, and whether it hurts them in one year. I think over time, one year, two years, whatever it is, be able to split those guys up, one, to keep them fresh throughout that game, but two, to keep them as healthy as they can for 17 games is the appropriate way to go."
This is an Arizona team that should be in the conversation for the top overall pick in 2027, hopefully finding a quarterback to pair with Love and form one of the league's best offenses for the next decade plus. But with that long-term timeframe in mind, the rebuilding Cardinals are right to preserve their most recent investment as much as possible.
Losing ways are expected to continue in 2026, meaning the game script won't help Love and Allgeier get a ton of total carries either. The pass-happy Cardinals offense should be at least more balanced than their second-worst rushing yards ranking last season. But Love in particular will have to use his pass-catching to find ways to get involved regardless of game outcome.
Whether that's Week 2 or 4, that three-down skillset will eventually win out, as this move to RB2 appears to be largely due to coming back from injury more than anything. Allgeier listed as the Week 1 starter doesn't really change anything in the scheme of things for Love.
But it does bring up the fact that Allgeier will be a serious thorn in Love's side all season long. For Arizona, that's by design to keep its most recent draft investment fresh and healthy for more important years to come.
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