The Arizona Cardinals are taking a lot of heat for their handling of rookie running back Jeremiyah Love during the team’s first preseason game.
Love played the entire first half of the Cardinals’ preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday, an unusual workload for a No. 3 overall pick at a skill position. The Cardinals gave him 23 snaps and 14 touches, only for him to suffer an ankle sprain just before halftime.
While 14 touches is not a huge amount, it is certainly more than other first-round rookie backs have received in previous preseasons.
Jeremiyah Love's 14 touches in this game are third most for a full preseason by a first-round rookie RB in last 10 years (out of 12 RBs who played in preseason)
— Mike Sando (@SandoNFL) August 18, 2026
2017 McCaffrey: 20 in three games
2021 N.Harris: 17 in three games
2026 Love: 14 in one game
No one thinks 14 touches… https://t.co/hOonjJko0G
Cardinals coach Matt LaFleur defended his decision to give Love a significant workload, pointing out that Love has no game experience at the NFL level.
“It’s a rookie that hadn’t played,” LaFleur said. “Knowing that, not to share too many secrets because I haven’t said it with the players yet, but knowing that it was about what it was going to be in terms of how many games these guys were going to play for what we were looking for.”
“It’s a rookie that hadn’t played.”
— Bo Brack (@BoBrack) August 16, 2026
Arizona Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur on why Jeremiyah Love played as much as he did in his preseason debut. pic.twitter.com/Xp3WfkKrwy
It is very easy to second-guess the decision after Love got hurt, but there is a reason that teams prefer to shield their best players from preseason action. That is even true of rookies, no matter how much they could use the game experience. The Cardinals took a different approach and are dealing with the consequences of that.
Love is not expected to play again during the preseason. The Cardinals are hopeful he will be good to go in Week 1 of the regular season.
