Arizona might have made a big mistake with Jeremiyah Love, leading to him getting injured with a high ankle sprain in his 2026 preseason debut Thursday against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Cardinals are fortunate that the injury isn’t major and should only keep him out a week. That said, they didn’t exactly prevent him from getting injured either. Love touched the ball 14 times on the first three drives before he got hurt.
That’s a lot considering he’s the starting running back and this is a preseason game. While it was productive because the Cardinals got a really good look at how explosive he can be in game action. That said, limiting his practice reps to unleash him in the regular season is a backwards process and clearly not a productive one. It’s a lesson learned for everyone involved.
How concerned should Arizona Cardinals fans be about Jeremiyah Love’s ankle sprain?
Realistically, as long as Mike LaFleur and the Cardinals are cautious with his recovery, it shouldn’t be any cause for concern. There’s no need for Love to play again this preseason, meaning he has nearly a full month to get ready for Week 1.
"It's a rookie that hadn't played. Not to share too many secrets because I haven't said it to the players yet, but knowing that it was about what it was going to be in terms of how many games these guys were going to play, for what we were looking for. So that's what the thought was,” LaFleur said, per On SI.
The bigger concern is that the Cardinals are very injured right now. Including Love, Carson Beck is dealing with a rib injury, Chase Bisontis could miss the whole year due to a torn MCL. Is there a trend of mismanagement that’s causing these injuries? Beck’s injury isn’t as significant because he’s not a projected starter, but losing two starters to injury in Thursday’s preseason game shows things could exacerbate as the preseason progresses and the regular season approaches.
How should the Arizona Cardinals handle the rest of this preseason?
For a team like the Cardinals, it’s hard to say they shouldn’t give their rookies opportunities to get acclimated to the speed of the NFL. At the same time, it’s not worth losing them either. With the Cardinals’ injury luck, Love for sure should be shut down the rest of the preseason. Beck on the other hand, should still play as long as it won’t affect his long term health and durability. He’s still trying to earn the backup job and prove he could be a starter.
Because the Cardinals have Gardner Minshew as an extra backup option, it makes more sense to let Beck get as many chances now because he could very well be in the mix for the long term starting job, depending on how the season goes. That said, most of the other starters should probably play no more than a possession or two per game the rest of the way.
The regular season is going to be a gauntlet for Arizona no matter how you look at it. Depth will be their biggest trait. They have to face Seattle and the Los Angeles Rams, twice a year. On top of that, they have to see San Francisco, who when healthy, are just as good as any other top team in the NFC. This isn’t the year for the Cardinals, but they can take a lot away from this season. Their biggest lesson to this point is proper load management. What they take away from Love’s injury will ultimately determine if they can figure out the perfect balance of getting reps with recovery.
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