Love '50/50' for opener as thin Cardinals backfield awaits word
Jeremiyah Love is 10 days from the opener and still hasn't practiced in pads, and behind him the backfield is down to Tyler Allgeier by default.
Love is 50/50 for the opener, and the room behind him is gone
Jeremiyah Love is "about 50/50" to play in the opener at the Chargers, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network as relayed by Bo Brack of PHNX Cardinals, as the rookie tries to shake the high ankle sprain he picked up in the preseason opener against Las Vegas on August 14 and never fully shed. Coach Mike LaFleur said Thursday only that Love is "progressing," per Howard Balzer of Cards Wire — after three weeks without pads, that is a status update, not an answer. Love has roughly 10 days to get himself ready for kickoff on September 13, and he will need to string together practice reps this week before there is a real answer either way.
The bigger issue is who is behind him if he cannot go. James Conner (foot) landed on injured reserve with a designation to return, per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, and Trey Benson (knee) reverted to IR right behind him, per David Furones of the South Florida Sun Sentinel — so a backfield that broke camp three deep is down to a rookie who has not taken a padded practice rep all week and Tyler Allgeier, who would open as the Week 1 starter by default rather than by winning the job. That is a lot of banked touches for a No. 3 overall pick to hand off before he has played a single regular-season snap.
Minshew stayed clean in the finale as the preseason closed at 1-3
Arizona closed the exhibition slate the way it opened it, in a shootout at Green Bay, and lost 42-38 after Packers quarterback Kyle McCord threw for 226 yards and 4 touchdowns, 2 of them to Kisean Johnson in the final three and a half minutes. Gardner Minshew, playing behind Jacoby Brissett for a roster spot, went 7 of 9 for 126 yards and a touchdown while absorbing a 10-yard sack — the kind of clean line a No. 2 wants on the record before cuts.
Packers38-42
Cowboys13-34
Raiders27-14Reggie Virgil caught 3 of his 6 targets for 23 yards and Jalen Brooks caught all 4 of his targets for 57 yards, the quiet lines that make a 53-man roster, while Elijah Higgins' concussion after 2 catches for 15 yards was the one injury that did not come off the field clean. The finale left Arizona at 1-3 in the preseason, worth almost nothing against a team that counts, but plenty as a last look before decisions got made.
Wilson got paid — now the question turns to Paris Johnson Jr.
Michael Wilson's three-year, $75 million extension is officially done, and Bo Brack of PHNX Cardinals is already asking the next question out loud: after locking up Wilson, does Arizona turn to its franchise left tackle next? Brack framed it as the logical follow-up rather than a reported deal in progress, but the timing tracks — this is a front office that just spent months closing a gap Josh Weinfuss of ESPN pegged at roughly $10 million between its opening offer and the final number.
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The pattern is the story here as much as any one name. Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr., Jeremiyah Love and now Wilson are all under contract through at least 2028, per Brack, and LaFleur summed up what that group means without being asked twice: "On paper, it looks good, but we gotta put in our work." Paris Johnson Jr. protecting whoever ends up throwing to that group is the kind of loose end a team with this much money already spent does not like leaving open for long.
Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles doubles as a message game for Herbert
It is Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles for the opener, against a Chargers team that finished its own preseason 1-2, including a September 4 loss to the Rams, 18-20. The line opened with Arizona as 10.5-point underdogs and the total set at 46.5, a middling number for a game that reads more like a measuring stick for the visitors than a shootout on either side.
Cardinals safety Budda Baker was already talking about Justin Herbert this week, telling reporters, per Yahoo Sports, that "with a Harbaugh offense, you know it starts with the run game, just the ability that Herbert has, to be able to throw inside the pocket, outside the pocket — he can launch the ball 70 yards in the air." If Love is not ready to go, Arizona will be leaning on Allgeier to keep enough balance to slow that down, in a building that is not built to make a rookie quarterback's life, or a backup running back's, any easier.