The Arizona Cardinals played their second preseason game on Thursday night against the Las Vegas Raiders. This contest saw the preseason debut of third overall pick Jeremiyah Love, who showed some promise against the Raiders, but also picked up an injury.
Love suffered an ankle injury in the win over Las Vegas on Thursday. Still, he had a very promising game. He racked up 72 yards from scrimmage on 14 touches during this contest and showed a lot of people why he was the third overall pick in this past draft.
Injury concerns are always going to be at the forefront of people’s minds, though. On Saturday, Cardinals fans received the update they were looking for. However, it may not have been as positive as they had hoped.
Cardinals’ Mike LaFleur Gives Jeremiyah Love Injury Update
Arizona head coach Mike LaFleur spoke with reporters Saturday morning. He was inevitably asked about Love’s progress from the injury. He confirmed that the rookie ball carrier will miss a little bit of time due to this issue.
“He was in great spirits, even Friday,” LaFleur said, via team beat reporter Zach Gershman. “But we’ll keep him out this week as we let it heal. So, a little bit more sore than we were anticipating.”
On Thursday, LaFleur had mentioned that Love could have returned to the field against the Raiders if needed. Unfortunately, it appears as if things may have been a bit more serious than initially thought.
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Love had a fantastic season at Notre Dame in 2025 to establish himself as the best running back in the 2026 NFL Draft. He had the fourth-highest RB impact score (91.9) in college last season, according to PFN’s in-house CFB RB Impact metric, last season after rushing for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Arizona had a hard time establishing the run in 2025. In fact, they had the worst rush offense in the NFC by total rushing yards. Only the Raiders had fewer total rushing yards across the entire league last season.
The hope is that Love can help elevate this run game. Arizona also invested heavily in its offensive line this offseason to further strengthen its ground game. This injury could put the rookie ball carrier’s Week 1 status into doubt. For now, though, the team is focusing on what’s ahead.
“This week and then we’ll kind of go from there and reevaluate,” LaFleur added. “Honestly, all the focus is on August 15th, Saturday. Here we are in our Tempe block (of practice). We’ll kind of reevaluate going into next week. But (Love) will be out this week.”
