Mike LaFleur indicates there’s a good chance Jeremiyah Love will be playing on Sunday. For those who selected him, that probably means Love should be in lineups in Week 1.
Love injured his ankle while being overused in a preseason game on August 13. But LaFleur indicates Love is returning to health. “He was out there moving around today,” LaFleur says. “We’ll see on Wednesday. I’ll have a better idea for all those guys [who are injured]. … I feel good.”
The Cardinals also have Tyler Allgeier, making a one-two punch backfield look likely, particularly early in the season. But Love was the No. 3 overall pick of the draft and flashed some big-play ability in his one appearance in the preseason. In typical fantasy leagues, those who drafted Love did so because they believe he’s going to be a difference-making kind of guy, and sooner rather than later.
Love hasn’t yet played in a regular season game, of course. So there could be a learning curve of sorts. But plenty of other rookie backs over the years have been able to hit the ground running.
In the last 30 years, 24 running backs have been selected with top-10 overall picks. Nine of those guys put up big numbers in their very first games. LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson, Edgerrin James and Saquon Barkley – it was clear the NFL landscape had changed from the moment they stepped on the field.
Another three backs put up initial numbers that can be considered not great but credible – Christian McCaffrey (who shared time with Jonathan Stewart), Ezekiel Elliott (who went on to have a phenomenal rookie year) and Ashton Jeanty.
At the same time, half of these 24 top-10 backs didn’t finish with great numbers initially – 12 of the 24 finished with single-digit production in their first games (in PPR formats).
While I’m not a big Love fan myself (I’m not expecting him to have a crushing rookie season) it’s not really logical for those who invested in him to now leave him parked on their benches. If LaFleur’s words are accurate, then the play will be to toss him out there and see how it goes.
| TOP-10 RUNNING BACKS IN FIRST GAME | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Pk | Opp | Result | Rush | Rec | Tot Yd | TD | PPR |
| 2001 | LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D. | 5 | Was. | W, 30-3 | 36-113-2 | 1-12-0 | 125 | 2 | 25.5 |
| 2007 | Adrian Peterson, Min. | 7 | Atl. | W, 24-3 | 19-103-0 | 1-60-1 | 163 | 1 | 23.3 |
| 1999 | Edgerrin James, Ind. | 4 | Buff. | W, 31-14 | 26-112-1 | 4-14-0 | 126 | 1 | 22.6 |
| 2017 | Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 4 | at Hou. | W, 29-7 | 26-100-1 | 3-24-0 | 124 | 1 | 21.4 |
| 2005 | Cadillac Williams, T.B. | 5 | at Min. | W, 24-13 | 27-148-1 | 0-0-0 | 148 | 1 | 20.8 |
| 2018 | Saquon Barkley, NYG | 2 | Jac. | L, 15-20 | 18-106-1 | 2-22-0 | 128 | 1 | 20.8 |
| 2023 | Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 8 | Car. | W, 24-10 | 10-56-0 | 6-27-1 | 83 | 1 | 20.3 |
| 2006 | Reggie Bush, N.O. | 2 | at Cle. | W, 19-14 | 15-67-0 | 7-52-0 | 119 | 0 | 18.9 |
| 1996 | Lawrence Phillips, St.L. | 6 | Cin. | W, 26-16 | 21-46-2 | 0-0-0 | 46 | 2 | 16.6 |
| 2017 | Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 8 | at S.F. | W, 23-3 | 13-47-0 | 5-38-0 | 85 | 0 | 13.5 |
| 2016 | Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 4 | NYG | L, 19-20 | 20-51-1 | 1-1-0 | 52 | 1 | 12.2 |
| 2025 | Ashton Jeanty, L.V. | 6 | at N.E. | W, 20-13 | 19-38-1 | 2-2-0 | 40 | 1 | 12.0 |
| 1998 | Curtis Enis, Chi. | 5 | Jac. | L, 23-24 | 12-77-0 | 1-7-0 | 84 | 0 | 9.4 |
| 2000 | Thomas Jones, Ari. | 7 | at NYG | L, 16-21 | 12-16-0 | 4-18-0 | 34 | 0 | 7.4 |
| 2005 | Ronnie Brown, Mia. | 2 | Den. | W, 34-10 | 22-57-0 | 1-4-0 | 61 | 0 | 7.1 |
| 1996 | Tim Biakabutuka, Car. | 8 | Atl. | W, 29-6 | 26-69-0 | 0-0-0 | 69 | 0 | 6.9 |
| 2008 | Darren McFadden, Oak. | 4 | Den. | L, 14-41 | 9-46-0 | 1-11-0 | 57 | 0 | 6.7 |
| 2012 | Trent Richardson, Cle. | 3 | Phi. | L, 16-17 | 19-39-0 | 1-5-0 | 44 | 0 | 5.4 |
| 2010 | C.J. Spiller, Buff. | 9 | Mia. | L, 10-15 | 7-6-0 | 4-8-0 | 14 | 0 | 5.4 |
| 1999 | Ricky Williams, N.O. | 5 | Car. | W, 19-10 | 10-40-0 | 0-0-0 | 40 | 0 | 4.0 |
| 2015 | Todd Gurley, St.L. | 10 | Pitt. | L, 6-12 | 6-9-0 | 1-5-0 | 14 | 0 | 2.4 |
| 2000 | Jamal Lewis, Balt. | 5 | at Pitt. | W, 16-0 | 5-16-0 | 0-0-0 | 16 | 0 | 1.6 |
| 2005 | Cedric Benson, Chi. | 4 | at Was. | L, 7-9 | 3-10-0 | 0-0-0 | 10 | 0 | 1.0 |
| 1998 | Fred Taylor, Jac. | 9 | at Chi. | W, 24-23 | 1-2-0 | 0-0-0 | 2 | 0 | .2 |
| 2026 | Jeremiyah Love, Ari. | 3 | at LAC | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan

