That’s a solid debut for Jeremiyah Love. Not earth-shattering, but it looks like he’ll be busting some longer runs.
He played a lot more than I expected, logging 11 carries. That’s unusual for a player of note in the preseason nowadays. He left with an ankle injury, but Mike LaFleur says it’s nothing serious.
Playing only in the first half, Love finished with 58 yards on his 11 carries, as well as catching all 3 of his targets. He was able to get outside for 9 yards on a third-and-one – a play some backs would have been caught in the backfield – and also had 14- and 16-yard gains.
In short, he looked pretty good. He ran a 4.36 at the combine. He busted loose for long runs at Notre Dame, and it’s apparent they’ll be some of those.
For me, I didn’t see an opinion-changing game. The Cardinals are still a lesser team (albeit perhaps with a more credible offense), and they still have Tyler Allgeier and James Conner. Whatever you thought of Love prior to last year’s debut is probably pretty similar to what you think of him now. But he didn’t fall on his face.
And for whatever it’s worth, Love so far stacks up just fine against the last dozen other running backs who were selected with top-10 overall picks. Ashton Jeanty, recall, carried 3 times for minus-1 yard in his preseason debut last year.
| TOP-10 BACKS, PRESEASON DEBUTS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Att | Yds | Avg | Lg | TD |
| 2006 | Reggie Bush, N.O. | 6 | 59 | 9.8 | 44 | 0 |
| 2007 | Adrian Peterson, Min. | 11 | 33 | 3.0 | 7 | 0 |
| 2008 | Darren McFadden, Oak. | 12 | 48 | 4.0 | 6 | 0 |
| 2010 | C.J. Spiller, Buff. | 4 | 16 | 4.0 | 11 | 0 |
| 2012 | Trent Richardson, Cle. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2015 | Todd Gurley, St.L. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2016 | Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 7 | 48 | 6.9 | 13 | 0 |
| 2017 | Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 9 | 31 | 3.4 | 8 | 1 |
| 2017 | Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 7 | 33 | 4.7 | 12 | 0 |
| 2018 | Saquon Barkley, NYG | 4 | 43 | 10.8 | 39 | 0 |
| 2023 | Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 4 | 20 | 5.0 | 12 | 0 |
| 2025 | Ashton Jeanty, L.V. | 3 | -1 | -0.3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2026 | Jeremiyah Love, Ari. | 11 | 58 | 5.3 | 16 | 0 |
—Ian Allan
