Jeremiyah Love's high ankle sprain won't need surgery, Cardinals say

It started small. Jeremiyah Love, the Cardinals' first-round back out of Notre Dame, got banged up in Thursday night's preseason game against the Raiders, and the early word from coach Mike LaFleur was just a sore ankle that would sideline him a week.

That timeline didn't hold. By Saturday, LaFleur was being cagey about specifics, and by Sunday night Adam Schefter confirmed what everyone feared: it's a high ankle sprain, the kind that lingers and derails camps. Schefter reported Love is unlikely to play again this preseason, with Arizona hoping to have him back for the Sept. 13 opener against the Chargers.

For context on why this stings: Love went 3rd overall in the 2026 draft out of Notre Dame, the highest a running back has been picked since Saquon Barkley went 2nd in 2018. He was a unanimous All-American and Doak Walker Award winner in 2025, posting 6.9 yards per carry and 18 rushing touchdowns on a deliberately light workload of 226 touches. He was billed as a game-changer from day one, and Bleacher Report had already slotted him as a Week 1 preseason winner and a top-10 rookie before the injury news broke.

The good news arrived Monday from Dr. David Chao, better known as ProFootballDoc, who said the sprain does not appear severe and does not require surgery. His caveat matters just as much as the good news: high ankle sprains have a habit of dragging on, and Week 1 availability is still just a hope, not a guarantee.

Even if Love clears that hurdle, don't expect the every-down workhorse role fantasy managers drafted him for. Cardinals beat reporter Josh Weinfuss said on the Pat McAfee Show he expects Arizona to lean on Love as more of a feature back than a bell-cow, a notable step down from the workload projections that had him going in the first round of redraft leagues just weeks ago.

Yahoo Fantasy's Josh Norris went further, calling the Cardinals' usage of Love in Preseason Week 1 flat-out idiotic, arguing the team pushed him into a heavy workload that helped set up the injury in the first place.

Fantasy analyst Matthew Berry has already started marking him down, moving Love from a first-round lock in casual leagues to a mid-third-round value in sharper best ball formats. That's the real cost here: not just missed practice reps, but a shrinking role and a falling price tag before he's played a single regular-season snap. Arizona insists it's all precautionary. The Sept. 13 opener against the Chargers will say a lot more than any press conference can.