Tyler Allgeier has been here before. Back in 2023, he ran for 1,035 yards as a rookie in Atlanta, then watched the Falcons turn around and draft Bijan Robinson eighth overall the following spring. Now he's living a stranger version of the same story in Arizona: the Cardinals gave him a $12.25 million, two-year deal in March to be the lead back, then turned around in April and used the No. 3 overall pick on Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love anyway.
Allgeier's response, per comments Thursday, was basically a shrug. He said there's no bad blood, no point in "being a jerk" about it, and that he's focused on "building that relationship" and feeding off Love rather than treating him like a threat. Coach Mike LaFleur has reportedly told Allgeier the two would form a "really good tandem," which is coach-speak for we're not telling you who's actually starting yet.
Here's the thing worth noting for anyone drafting this backfield: through the first 8 days of training camp, Allgeier has been getting the first-team reps, with Love working in behind him. That's not nothing. Rookie hype machines love to anoint a Day 1 bell-cow, but the early camp reps are pointing toward a real timeshare, not a changing of the guard.
And it's not just a two-man race. James Conner and Trey Benson are still on the roster, which makes this one of the most crowded backfields in the league heading into a season where the offense itself is a question mark. Arizona ranked 23rd in scoring and second-to-last in rushing last year, so whoever "wins" this timeshare is inheriting touches on a unit that needs to be dragged uphill.
For fantasy purposes, Love is still the name to know. He's the first rookie running back off the board in most 2026 drafts, going around pick 23 to 24 on Underdog and pick 27 on DraftKings, largely on draft-capital hype after a Doak Walker season at Notre Dame. But that ADP is pricing him like a clear-cut lead back in an offense that has to sort out four bodies at the position, with an OC in Nathaniel Hackett whose backfield usage has never been easy to predict.
That's exactly the gap that makes Allgeier interesting as a value play rather than a throwaway veteran. If he's genuinely holding the early-down and first-team reps into the regular season, he's a legitimate handcuff-plus-more, not just insurance. Drafting Love at his current cost means paying rookie-hype price for what looks, right now, like a committee. Drafting Allgeier late means potentially getting real touches for nothing.
Worth remembering: this isn't Allgeier's first rodeo getting drafted over. He knows how these stories usually end for the incumbent, and he's clearly playing the long game on attitude rather than picking a fight in the locker room. But attitude doesn't move fantasy points. What decides this backfield is what happens when the pads really come on and the Cardinals have to pick a starter in a real game.
Keep an eye on joint practices and preseason snap counts before locking in a draft strategy here. If Love starts stacking with the twos in real preseason reps, his ADP holds or climbs. If Allgeier keeps getting first-team run into September, he becomes one of the better late-round handcuff values in the entire draft, and Love turns into exactly the kind of rookie-hype fade that shows up on bust lists every August.