Jeremiyah Love out for Cardinals vs. Rams with ankle

This one started quietly on Wednesday. Love sat out practice, LaFleur called it rest, and by the evening the injury report said the same thing.

Bo Brack

@BoBrack

Arizona Cardinals Wednesday Injury Report for Week 6 against the Rams: Jeremiyah Love DNP resting his injured ankle

The word from the building Wednesday was patience: rest the ankle and see where it is as the week goes on. The trouble is that this isn't a new ankle problem. Love hurt an ankle in the preseason, and LaFleur said the regular-season ankle issue has just lingered and taken away his burst. The No. 3 overall pick in the 2026 draft is averaging 3.7 yards a carry through 5 games and had 22 yards on 12 carries against Detroit last Sunday. The flash was Week 3, when he ran for 89 yards against San Francisco. Since then the ankle has been running the show.

Thursday didn't help. No Love at practice again, and this time it got the national treatment.

Adam Schefter

@AdamSchefter

For the second straight day, Cardinals rookie RB Jeremiyah Love did not practice due to an ankle injury.

Two straight DNPs in the middle of the week usually tells you how Friday is going to go, and this time it did. LaFleur ruled Love out for the Rams and put the long-term plan ahead of 1 division game. Get the ankle right now so it isn't still a problem in December. He also killed the IR talk before it could start. There has been no discussion of putting Love on injured reserve, so the Cardinals are clearly hoping he's back for Week 7 against the Broncos.

The most telling part of Friday's press conference was about what Love hasn't been doing. Cardinals fans have been asking why a back with his hands has barely shown up in the passing game. LaFleur gave a straight answer: he can't cut on the ankle well enough to run routes.

Darren Urban

@Cardschatter

LaFleur acknowledged big reason Jeremiyah Love hasn’t been big part of passing game has been ankle and inability to run routes. Love will be used more as receiver when he can make cuts/run routes.

That's a pretty big admission. The Love the Cardinals drafted, the one who gets used as a receiver, hasn't really played a full game yet. In the meantime Tyler Allgeier should get the bulk of the work against the Rams. There was some good news on the other side of the ball, too.

Darren Urban

@Cardschatter

Sounds like Cardinals will activate S Kitan Crawford from IR. LaFleur: “Excited to see what he has on Sunday.”

So Arizona gets safety Kitan Crawford back from IR and loses its rookie running back for at least a week. What to watch now is whether Love is on the practice field next Wednesday ahead of Denver. If he's at full speed and running routes, the Cardinals made the right call by resting him. If it's another DNP, all that talk about having no IR discussions is going to get a lot harder to believe.