There's a reason the Cardinals took a running back with the No. 3 overall pick for the first time since Garrison Hearst back in 1993 — and Jeremiyah Love spent his preseason debut reminding everyone why. The Notre Dame product, who finished third in Heisman voting last season after piling up 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns on just 199 touches, got run with Arizona's starters and immediately made a defender look silly.
Love hops over an incoming tackler in the open field during Arizona's preseason action.
The hurdle went viral fast, and it fed straight into the fantasy football conversation that's been building around Love all offseason. He was the highest running back drafted since Saquon Barkley went No. 2 to the Giants in 2018, and the pressure that comes with that billing hasn't been subtle — every camp report and preseason snap gets dissected for signs of what his rookie workload will actually look like in Mike LaFleur's offense.
The box score from Arizona's first drive with the starters backed up the hype without overselling it: Love got 2 carries for 5 yards, while Tyler Allgeier ran 3 times for 14 yards and Marvin Harrison Jr. capped the possession with a touchdown catch (2088060977480966342). It wasn't a takeover performance — it was a shared backfield with a rookie mixed in, which is exactly what a lot of draft analysts expected out of the gate.
Love himself has been talking up the fit with LaFleur, saying the coach has let him run the scheme he's comfortable with instead of forcing a system on him.
That matters more than it sounds like on the surface. Concerns about Arizona's offensive line and pass-game usage have been loud enough that Matthew Berry and company were debating on FF Happy Hour whether the panic around Love's outlook had gone too far. A rookie back saying his coach is putting him in position to succeed is the kind of quote that either ages well or gets dug up all September — right now, after a hurdle and a shared first drive, it's leaning toward the former.
None of this settles the fantasy debate — Love's current ADP still sits around the first pick of Round 3, and comparisons to a locked-in bell cow like Kyren Williams are premature off one preseason drive. But for a rookie who was the centerpiece of Arizona's entire draft class, a highlight-reel hurdle and real reps with the ones is exactly the kind of evidence drafters were waiting on.