Kyle Soppe closed his Hot List rookie rankings with Jeremiyah Love at No. 1 and Jadarian Price at No. 2. Flip them. The gap between the two has almost nothing to do with the players and everything to do with the two offenses they walked into.
Jeremiyah Love’s Fantasy Value Runs Through Arizona’s Quarterback Room
The Cardinals took Love third overall, making him the first running back drafted inside the top five since Saquon Barkley went second in 2018. Soppe’s argument starts and ends with that draft slot. “They’re gonna use him like they spent incredible draft capital on him,” he said, and he’s right. Usage isn’t the question.
The environment is. Arizona moved on from Kyler Murray this offseason and will start Jacoby Brissett, who ended a summer-long holdout with a reworked deal that pays him $15.5 million guaranteed and adds no years. Gardner Minshew and third-round rookie Carson Beck sit behind him, and every contract in that room expires after this season. Brissett went 1-11 as a starter in 2025. Defenses get to make a choice here, and the choice is easy.
Soppe waved at this on his way past it. “This offensive line’s a little bit better,” he said. Better is carrying weight there. The Cardinals dropped from fifth to 18th in rushing success rate on running back attempts in 2025, and their headline answer was Texas A&M guard Chase Bisontis at No. 34. That’s a real investment. It’s also one guard.
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“I get that you were burned by Ashton [Jeanty] last year,” Soppe said. “I don’t think it happens this year.” Fair, but the comparison argues against him. Jeanty ran for 975 yards on 266 carries behind one of the worst offensive lines in football. Talent wasn’t his problem either.
The receivers ahead of Love on nobody’s board are worth a word. Soppe called Carnell Tate the rookie wide receiver one and floated a Cincinnati parallel: “I’m not saying [Cam] Ward to Tate is gonna be the next Burrow to Chase, but I think you see where I’m going here.” Tate left Ohio State with 121 catches for 1,872 yards, then landed in a Titans room with Calvin Ridley and Wan’Dale Robinson, who signed for four years and $70 million. That’s more crowded than “lacking options” suggests.
Jadarian Price Inherits Seattle’s Super Bowl Run Game
Price went 32nd, the final pick of the first round, into the best rookie situation in the class. Kenneth Walker III signed a three-year, $43.05 million deal with Kansas City. Zach Charbonnet tore his ACL in the divisional round, had surgery in February and opened camp on the physically unable to perform list. ESPN reported on Aug. 8 that he might not return until late in the season.
“Not many rookie running backs get a runway that looks like this out the gates,” Soppe said. “[Jadarian] Price should get 15 to 20 touches as soon as Week 1, and I expect him to hold that throughout the season.”
The complication is that Price missed five straight practices in mid-August with lower-body soreness while George Holani took first-team reps alongside him. Mike Macdonald called Price “on the mend.” Soreness in the second week of August is not a depth chart, and Holani is not the reason Seattle spent a first-round pick.
Soppe credited Seattle with leading the league in running back rush attempts and ranking first inside the 20. Publicly, the Seahawks finished third in rushing attempts and 10th in rushing yards, which points the same direction even if the exact framing is PFSN’s.
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The one genuine structural risk is coaching turnover. Klint Kubiak took the Raiders job, and Seattle promoted Brian Fleury from inside the building. Fleury has said the offense “looks very similar to the one that just won the Super Bowl.” Continuity was the entire point of the hire.
Love will go earlier in every draft this month, and if Arizona’s offense holds up he’ll justify it. Price will cost a round or two less and doesn’t need anything to break right. In a class this thin behind the top four, that difference is the whole game.
