Garafolo: Jeremiyah Love 50/50 to play Week 1

Love was listed as a limited practice participant after he tweaked his ankle in the Cardinals’ Week 4 loss to the Giants. Though he seemingly seized command of Arizona’s backfield in Week 3, Tyler Allgeier was heavily involved in Week 4 as Love hurt his ankle. He was already nursing his other ankle heading into the season and may see limited touches again with this latest tweak. Love is still trending to play Week 5 against the Lions but may sit back on the RB2/3 borderline as his ankle heals.

Love will presumably have his practice reps monitored, but he isn’t at risk of missing Week 5. He went down with a new ankle injury late in the second quarter of Week 4. Love played sparingly in the second half but denied getting injured at all after the game. It sounds like it’s not a major issue, but it’s hard to feel confident in him handling a heavy workload after how things unfolded last week. He is tumbling back into the RB3 ranks for his upcoming game against the Lions.

It’s been an odd 24 hours for Love, who was quoted after Sunday’s game saying this is shaping up to be the “longest year” of his career while also adding that he’s “tired” and would be willing to pass off work to Tyler Allgeier or Bam Knight in the event that he doesn’t think he can do what is being asked of him. As for this latest injury, LaFleur said the ankle injury isn’t the same one Love injured in the preseason, meaning he now has two ankle injuries to manage for the rest of the season. The Cardinals’ backfield was already proving hard to predict, and the latest quote from Love, coupled with the injury news, doesn’t exactly instill more confidence in him going forward. He draws a plus Week 5 matchup against the Lions, but should be treated as a fringe RB2/RB3 for now.

Love engaged in a long, candid conversation with Cardinals beat reporters after the game today, saying his snaps are being managed because he currently is “not able to go out there and do spectacular plays every single time.” Love said this is probably going to be the “longest year” of his life, and his preseason ankle injury is not the only thing he is dealing with. Love said his body is sometimes just “tired,” and that he would “probably just hinder the team” if he took on more work in his current state. He rhetorically asked, “why not put somebody else out there that’s playing better?” For those wondering, the Cardinals don’t go on bye until Week 14. They face the fantasy-friendly Lions defense in Week 5, which could help Love get his confidence back with an efficient performance.

One week after getting out-touched 26-6 by Jeremiyah Love, Allgeier got the situation back to “third and manageable” this week with his rookie backfield mate winning the handles war by a more modest score of 15-10. With the Cardinals spending most of the second half playing from behind, Allgeier was gobbling up snaps on third down and in the two-minute drill. That was coach Mike LaFleur’s explanation for his greater involvement. Allgeier’s score was a 22-yarder where the Cards’ line sprung a hole and Allgeier shed a few tackles. Cool stuff, though Allgeier remains a low-ceiling FLEX in this deficient offense, one dominated by target hogs Trey McBride and Michael Wilson.

Love “added” a -8 yard reception. One week after seeming to seize complete command of the Cardinals’ backfield with a 26-touch, 109-yard performance, Love out-touched Tyler Allgeier just 15-10. It was Allgeier who notched a 22-yard touchdown. Asked about it afterwards, coach Mike LaFleur lamely mentioned something about the Cardinals’ two-minute offense. Twitter doctors were claiming Love — who had only one fourth quarter touch — was dealing with some sort of injury, but we didn’t see it. Neither LaFleur nor Love made any mention of any kind of supposed issue after the game. We assume he will be fine ahead of a potential Week 5 shootout with the Lions.

Allgeier lost nearly all high-value touches to Jeremiyah Love in Week 3, falling far behind the rookie in total opportunities and sinking further in total snaps. He saw 31 snaps to Love’s 55, seeing just six touches to Love’s 26. Allgeier’s most usage came in passing-down situations, catching four passes while pass-blocking was his most prominent role. Allgeier holds little standalone value with Love taking over the backfield; he could just be a useful bench hedge against an injury at this point.

Love tallied a career-high 26 touches in Week 3, gashing the 49ers’ banged-up offensive line for over 100 total yards. The rookie out-snapped Tyler Allgeier 55-to-31 while also out-touching him 26-to-6. Nearly all the high-value touches went to Love, who scored on a play-action pass at the one-yard line. The path to true workhorse usage is wide open for Love after a monstrous workload and productive fantasy day against the 49ers. He is a high-end RB2 for Week 4 against the Giants.

Allgeier failed to generate more than five yards on a touch all night. Rookie RB Jeremiyah Love fared slightly better, but the Seahawks’ defense simply bottled up the Cardinals’ backfield. Allgeier is a capable back but needs help from his offensive environment to generate usable fantasy stat lines. He can only be viewed as a touchdown-dependent FLEX against the 49ers next week, although he remains a worthwhile bench stash.

On Friday, Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur said Love and RB Tyler Allgeier are going to rotate this season. Ultimately, they did in Week 2, but Love was in for the first series, running the ball on three of the Cardinals’ first six plays. The rookie running back looks spry and explosive, yet there was simply no room to run against the Seahawks’ elite defense. Although Love is still splitting snaps with RB Tyler Allgeier, Love out-touched him 12-7 this week. Love can be viewed as a low-end RB2/FLEX next week against the 49ers.