Jeremiyah Love Is Out Again With a High Ankle Sprain: What the No. 3 Pick's Rookie Year Has Become
Jeremiyah Love was ruled out of Sunday's game against Denver on Friday, the second straight week Arizona has played without the third overall pick in the 2026 draft. He has not practiced in two weeks.
The injury is a high ankle sprain, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, and it has been with him since August.
The Timeline Is the Story
Love hurt the ankle in his only preseason appearance, on August 13 against the Raiders, and missed the rest of the summer. He played the first five games anyway, aggravated it in the fourth quarter of the Week 4 loss at the Giants, took a reduced snap count against Detroit in Week 5, and has been off the practice field since roughly October 9.
Head coach Mike LaFleur has been blunt about what he is watching.
“He's doing good, but you see the way he cuts, he cuts hard,” LaFleur said earlier this month. “When he puts his left foot in the ground, it's just not right right now.”
Last week he put it more simply: “The whole point of this was to get Jeremiyah feeling great and feeling 100 percent.”
Love is not on injured reserve, and LaFleur said there have been no conversations about it. That designation would cost a four-week minimum. Nobody has offered a return date. Week 8 at Dallas on November 1 is the earliest realistic one.
The Numbers Behind the Frustration
Through five games Love has 67 carries for 245 yards, 3.7 a carry, with one rushing touchdown. He has 11 catches on 14 targets for 36 yards and a receiving score. He has been on the field for 49.6 percent of Arizona's offensive snaps.
His best day was 90 yards on 21 carries at San Francisco in Week 3. His worst was 22 yards on 12 carries against the Lions.
He said more than he probably intended to after the Giants game.
“It's been a long year for me,” Love said. “Body sometimes is down. This is probably gonna be the longest year of my life.”
He was clear that the frustration pointed inward: “I'm really frustrated with myself.”
Arizona Promoted Evan Hull and Will Split the Backfield
The Cardinals signed running back Evan Hull off the practice squad to the active roster on Saturday and released safety Wydett Williams Jr. to make room. Hull slots in as the third back.
Tyler Allgeier and Zonovan “Bam” Knight will share the work again, as they did in the 18-16 win at the Rams. Allgeier, on a two-year, $12.25 million deal signed in March, has 53 carries for 157 yards, under three a pop, with one touchdown. Knight has 18 carries for 112 yards, 6.2 a carry, including 15 for 80 against Los Angeles.
LaFleur was asked whether Knight's Week 6 production factored into keeping Love out. He shut it down.
“What Bam did has nothing to do with this,” LaFleur said.
What It Means for a 2-4 Team
Arizona averages 96.3 rushing yards a game, 22nd in the league, at 3.70 a carry, tied for 23rd. The defense has allowed 178 points, 31st. Jacoby Brissett is the quarterback. LaFleur is in his first season as a head coach.
Taking a running back third overall is a bet that he will be available for 17 games a year for a decade. Arizona is seven weeks in and has spent two of those weeks learning what the ankle does when he plants on it.
Sitting him is still the right call. A rookie season that ends with 245 yards and a sound ankle in December is worth more than one that ends with 400 and a surgery. Denver comes to State Farm Stadium at 4-2 with Bo Nix. Allgeier and Knight get it again, and Love watches another one.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
