The Arizona Cardinals didn’t need a long look at Jeremiyah Love to know what they had. They just needed a few real-game reps to get him up to speed — not a full half of work to test his limits.

That difference suddenly mattered a lot more after Love went down in his preseason debut against the Las Vegas Raiders with an ankle injury that was later diagnosed as a high ankle sprain. Arizona’s new offensive centerpiece is now unlikely to see the field again this preseason, and the team is hoping he’ll be ready when the regular season opens against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 13th.

To be clear, injuries are part of football. This wasn’t about Mike LaFleur being careless or putting Love in harm’s way without a plan, and there’s no real way to know if the injury would’ve happened on his fourth touch, his 14th, or even in a routine practice rep.

But even with that in mind, 14 touches in a single half still felt like a lot for a No. 3 overall pick — especially for a player whose role in the offense was already pretty well established.

The Reps Had A Purpose

This isn’t about saying Love should’ve been wrapped in bubble wrap all August.

He’s a 21-year-old rookie trying to figure out a new NFL offense. Of course he needed real reps — feeling the speed of the game, picking up blitzes in live action, and learning what it’s like when defenders don’t ease up just because it’s preseason.

And to be fair, there was value in what Arizona saw.

Love ran 11 times for 58 yards and added three catches for 14 more. You could see the juice they drafted him for — the burst, the balance, the “oh wow” moments. He bounced off one tackle, hurdled another, and ripped off a 15-yard run that looked straight out of his college tape. LaFleur said his confidence really started to show after the third drive, and Love himself admitted he finally started to settle in.

They also got a first real look at him as a receiver, which will be huge in this offense. LaFleur's been pretty open about how much stress a back like that can put on linebackers in coverage, and those three catches gave Arizona a small but useful sample of that idea actually working.

But even with all that… it didn’t really need to be 14 touches in 23 snaps.

Before the game, LaFleur said the starters would go one drive, maybe two at most. Love ended up playing the entire first half and touched the ball on nearly 61% of his snaps. Even he said afterward he wasn’t expecting that kind of workload.

And when you stack it up against other top rookie backs, it stands out even more. Saquon Barkley had four touches in his lone preseason outing as a rookie. Bijan Robinson had six. Jahmyr Gibbs had eight. Ashton Jeanty had 13 total across three games in 2025. Love topped all of them in less than a half.

Even Christian McCaffrey’s 20 rookie touches were spread across three games.

Arizona Already Knew What Love Was

The Cardinals didn’t take Jeremiyah Love at No. 3 overall because they needed a whole month to figure out if he could play. That part was already decided the second they turned in the card.

Monti Ossenfort made it pretty clear after the draft — when you pick that high, you’re not drafting “potential impact.” You’re drafting someone you expect to be the impact. And Arizona clearly believed Love was that guy. Mike LaFleur didn’t even hide it either, talking all offseason about how Love’s explosiveness was going to change what this offense could look like.

And honestly, they needed it. This wasn’t a team coming off a solid year trying to add a luxury piece. Arizona went 3–14 last season and couldn’t run the ball to save their life — 93.1 yards per game, a beat-up offensive line, and a backfield that felt like it was held together with tape by midseason. Love wasn’t brought in to “compete for a role.” He was brought in to fix things.

So realistically, there wasn’t anything Love was going to show against a bunch of Raiders backups that would’ve changed his standing in the building.

Which is why the whole workload thing feels a little off in hindsight. The early touches made sense — get him hit, let him feel NFL speed, let him catch a couple passes and see how he reacts. Totally normal preseason stuff. And by the time he showed the burst, the balance, the smooth moments, you kind of already had your answer.

So the question kind of becomes: what were those last five touches really for?

Because the injury came on the last one — a short catch where he got rolled up from behind near the 10-yard line. Nothing dirty, nothing crazy, just one of those football plays that can happen any time. That doesn’t make it anyone’s “fault,” but it also doesn’t make it feel great either.

Week 1 Is A Different Story

Initially, no one in the Cardinals' building thought this was going to be a big issue. LaFleur even said Love could’ve gone back in if they really needed him and expected him to be back at practice the next week.

But that optimism didn’t last long. A couple days later, Love was noticeably more sore than the team thought he’d be. By Sunday, the diagnosis had shifted to a high ankle sprain, and now Arizona is basically in weekly check-in mode with him.

The good news is he’s got time before Week 1. The bad news is time doesn’t automatically mean he’ll be the same guy we saw flashing in Las Vegas.

And that’s the part that stings. This isn’t just any position — it’s running back, where everything is built on burst, sharp cuts, and trusting your ankle to do exactly what your brain is telling it to do. Being available for the Chargers and being fully himself are two very different things.

LaFleur kind of said it himself when talking about James Conner coming back from a foot injury:

It’s not return to play, it’s return to performance.

And Arizona does have some insurance. Tyler Allgeier has been steady all camp and already has a 1,000-yard season under his belt as a rookie in Atlanta. The Cardinals actually built this room with depth in mind because Conner and Trey Benson were both coming off injuries. Even now, Conner still isn’t doing full 11-on-11 work, Benson is limited, and they’ve already had to bring in Tre Stewart just to have someone take reps.

Maybe Love is back by Sept. 13th and looks totally fine. Then this all becomes something we forget about by October. That’s obviously what Arizona's hoping for.

But it doesn’t change the bigger point. They already knew what they had in Love. He needed real reps, sure — but he didn’t need 14 touches in 23 snaps to prove he was ready for a role they already committed a top-three pick and a massive contract to.

All stats courtesy of NFL Pro.

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