We Called Jeremiyah Love the Worst Pick of Round 1. Five Games In, Here's the Honest Scorecard

By the DraftClassInsider staff · Published October 12, 2026 · Through Week 5 of the 2026 season

At a glance

Drafted: No. 3 overall by the Cardinals out of Notre Dame, the highest-drafted running back since Saquon Barkley went second in 2018. He finished third in the 2025 Heisman voting.
Contract: four years, $53,023,666, fully guaranteed.
Through Week 5: 67 carries, 245 yards (3.7 per carry) and 1 rushing touchdown. He also has 11 catches for 36 yards and a receiving touchdown, and no fumbles.
Health: a high ankle sprain in the preseason opener, then a tweak to the other ankle in Week 4. He has not missed a regular-season game.
Team: Arizona is 1-4. Love and Tyler Allgeier have split the snaps almost evenly.
Our draft-night verdict: BONEHEADED, C.

What We Said

On April 23 we gave Arizona's pick of Jeremiyah Love at No. 3 our only "boneheaded" label in the first round and called it the worst process of the night. The argument was about value, not about Love. Running backs are the easiest offensive starters to find later in the draft, and a rebuilding team with a shaky offensive line was using a premium pick on one. The AP noted he was the highest-drafted back since the Giants took Saquon Barkley second in 2018.

The Cardinals saw a complete player. "What's unique about him in my opinion, is that in all three phases, run game, pass game and protection," first-year head coach Mike LaFleur said on draft night. He was a credentialed one too: Love finished third in the 2025 Heisman voting behind Fernando Mendoza and Diego Pavia.

The Ankles

His rookie year was complicated before it started. Love ran for 58 yards on 11 carries in the preseason opener at Las Vegas on August 13 and hurt his ankle. Three days later ESPN's Adam Schefter reported it was a high ankle sprain, and the Cardinals said they hoped he would be ready for Week 1. On August 31 LaFleur said Love was "progressing really well toward playing in Week 1." NFL Network's Mike Garafolo called him "about 50/50" the next day. He played in the opener and has played in every game since.

The injury has not fully gone away. In Week 4 at the Giants he hurt his other ankle, and LaFleur described the plan as maintenance: "It's been kind of lingering a little bit. Nothing too extreme," and "he just kind of felt it a little bit yesterday and I think that's why you saw kind of a 50-50 split." Love has been open about what that means. "It's all gas, no brakes, if I'm on the field, even if my ankle is going to fall off, I'm going to do my job," he said in September. After Week 4 he said, "I'm not where I want to be," and "This is probably going to be the longest year of my life, and I want to manage that workload." Rotoworld reported he even told coaches that Allgeier and Bam Knight should play when they are going better: "why not put somebody else out there that's playing better?"

The Production

Week	Opponent	Result	Rushing	Receiving
1	at Chargers	W 26-14	11-41, 1 TD	2-9
2	vs. Seahawks	L 31-7	9-29	3-16
3	at 49ers	L 36-30	21-90	5-19, 1 TD
4	at Giants	L 36-24	14-63	1 for -8
5	vs. Lions	L 45-21	12-22	0 on 1 target

His best game was Week 3 at San Francisco: 26 touches, a career high, more than 100 scrimmage yards and a short play-action touchdown catch. His worst was Sunday's loss to Detroit, when, as Cardinals.com put it, he "had just 22 yards on 12 carries with little room to maneuver."

He has not been the workhorse a No. 3 pick usually becomes. By the Cardinals' own snap counts, Allgeier played 44 snaps to Love's 32 in Week 1 and 36 to 30 in Week 4, with 10 red-zone snaps to Love's two. Love led 36 to 32 in Week 5, which Cardinals.com noted was only the second time he had out-snapped Allgeier. "They are going to rotate. They are. This is a looong season. There are 16 more games," LaFleur said in September. Allgeier has 35 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown.

How Other Top-Three Backs Started

We added up the first five games of the two most recent backs drafted this high, using ESPN game logs:

Player	Pick	Rushing (att-yds-TD)	Receiving (rec-yds-TD)
Saquon Barkley, 2018 Giants	2	71-308-3	31-274-2
Trent Richardson, 2012 Browns	3	81-303-4	20-169-1
Jeremiyah Love, 2026 Cardinals	3	67-245-1	11-36-1

Love is behind both in every category. The comparison works both ways. Barkley became one of the league's best backs. Richardson was traded to Indianapolis two games into his second season and soon faded out of the league. Five games don't decide which of those paths Love is on. The biggest gap is in the passing game: Barkley had 31 catches in his first five games and Love has 11. LaFleur's draft-night case rested on Love being a threat in all three phases, and the receiving part has not shown up yet.

The Context

Arizona is a hard place for a running back right now. The Cardinals are 1-4 after a 45-21 loss to Detroit. Jacoby Brissett, the AP noted, is 2-15 as Arizona's starter since taking over for Kyler Murray last season. "Anytime there's a blowout like this, it starts with coaching," LaFleur said. Arizona has trailed by large margins in several games, which limits the running game, and the defense has allowed 31 or more points four times.

Betting markets still like him. VegasInsider's October 12 listing has Love second for Offensive Rookie of the Year at the six sportsbooks it tracks, behind the Browns' Denzel Boston, at +220 to +230. theScore gave him a C+ for his first month.

Our Take

Five games have not changed our view of the pick, and they have not ended the debate either. Our objection was that Arizona spent the No. 3 pick on the position easiest to fill, and so far the Cardinals are using him like a back they could have found later: a rotation player on a struggling team, sharing snaps with a veteran. His average of 3.7 yards a carry reflects a weak offense and an ankle that has never fully healed as much as it reflects him.

There is a case for patience. He has not fumbled, he has played through two ankle injuries, and he is honest about his workload. If he gets healthy and Arizona gives him a full workload and more passing targets, the 26-touch game at San Francisco is the version the Cardinals drafted. If he does, the pick could still look good. If he spends the season splitting carries on a losing team, the Cardinals will have paid a No. 3 pick's price for a committee back. Grade today: C, unchanged and incomplete. For every first-round pick, see our Week 5 reality check.

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