The Cardinals report to State Farm Stadium on Tuesday, and NFL.com’s Grant Gordon framed the stakes plainly in his NFC West camp preview this week: Jeremiyah Love “could be the most anticipated 2026 rookie in the league, at least on the offensive side” — No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza included.
The anticipation is priced in. Arizona took the Notre Dame running back third overall — the first back drafted in the top five since Saquon Barkley in 2018 — and his four-year, $53 million rookie deal carries the most guaranteed money ever given to a running back. Love, for his part, has kept the volume low, telling the team’s website he’s setting no personal goals for his rookie year. The roster around him is what makes the summer interesting: Arizona re-signed James Conner and added Tyler Allgeier in free agency, which means new head coach Mike LaFleur doesn’t have to hand a 21-year-old a bell-cow workload on a team coming off 3-14 — even if the draft capital and the fan base both argue for it.
How LaFleur resolves that tension is the most consequential development question in the building, because the recent track record demands care. Arizona’s last three first-round picks — Marvin Harrison Jr., Darius Robinson and Walter Nolen — have combined to play 53 of a possible 85 games, per Gordon’s preview, and none has yet performed to his draft slot. Harrison’s 103 catches, 1,493 yards and 12 touchdowns across two seasons read as a disappointment against top-five-pick expectations. Love arrives with the same can’t-miss billing Harrison carried in 2024. The difference a healthy, well-managed rookie season would make — for Love and for the franchise’s credibility in developing its own stars — is hard to overstate.
The first real answers come quickly. Rookies and veterans report together on July 22, the first of seven open practices runs July 24, and LaFleur’s offense — installed all spring largely without its presumed starting quarterback — begins taking its regular-season shape. Where Love’s touches settle between Conner’s short-yardage role and Allgeier’s between-the-tackles work will say more about Arizona’s timeline than anything the depth chart shows in August.
