Jeremiyah Love was not the first offensive player taken in the 2026 NFL Draft, but the running back is in front of Fernando Mendoza on another front.
Love has been installed as the betting favorite to be the offensive rookie of the year after being picked by the Cardinals at No. 3. Various sportsbooks have pegged Love’s odds at anywhere between +200 and +300, but he is the consensus top choice on the day after the draft.
Mendoza was the first overall pick by the Raiders and the quarterback joins Titans wide receiver Carnell Tate, Saints wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, and Eagles wide receiver Makai Lemon to round out the top five choices.
The Jets made edge rusher David Bailey the first defensive player off the board at No. 2 and he is the favorite for the award. Oddsmakers differ on how other players line up behind Bailey, but Giants linebacker Arvell Reese, Commanders linebacker Sonny Styles, Buccaneers edge rusher Rueben Bain, Cowboys safety Caleb Downs, and Chiefs cornerback Mansoor Delane are bunched together as the other top choices.
Cardinals Clips
Is the running back en vogue again?
The Cardinals selected Jeremiyah Love at No. 3 overall on Thursday night, making him the league’s highest-drafted running back since the Giants picked Saquon Barkley at No. 2 overall back in 2018.
Speaking with Cardinals media after the selection on Thursday night, Love said it was not a surprise to get the call from Arizona.
“I had great dialogue with [General Manager] Monti [Ossenfort] a few weeks ago,” Love said, via transcript from the team. “After David [Bailey] got picked, I kind of had a feeling I would get a call from the Cardinals.
“It’s just a blessing being able to have the opportunity to go to Arizona and I’m ready for it. I’m ready for the opportunity, and I’m just ready to work.”
Love also called it “very special” to be one of the highest drafted running backs in several years.
“I have the opportunity to really set a new standard for running backs,” Love said. “We’ve already had Saquon, we’ve had Bijan [Robinson], and we’ve had Ashton [Jeanty]. Now you have me.
“It’s my job and my duty to make sure that when I step foot in Arizona, that I do what I’ve got to do to represent the running backs and represent Arizona in the right way, so that’s what I’m going to do coming into the league. I’m going to make sure I represent the right way and I’m very blessed to have this opportunity. I’m just ready to work and do what I’ve got to do to have success.”
Does that put any more weight on him to perform?
“No added pressure at all,” Love said. “I try not to listen to a lot of things that are said about me, whether they are good or bad. I know I was just picked as the third overall pick in the NFL Draft, but I’m still myself at the end of the day. I still have the same work ethic, and it’s going to get better.
“I’m still just Jeremiyah Love, man. I’m still on the hunt for something greater than this. That hunt is never going to stop, so there’s no pressure here.”
Immediately after the Cardinals made running back Jeremiyah Love the third overall pick in the draft, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network shared a previously unknown nugget.
Cue the NFL insiders who knew about it all along but who decided not to do, you know, their jobs.
Love, per Rapoport had an abnormal EKG at the Scouting Combine. Further testing cleared the issue, and it obviously didn’t impact Love’s stock.
Regardless, if people knew about it (and Rapoport presumably didn’t find out in the handful of seconds after Love was picked), they should have shared it. It’s relevant information, no different than the constant rush to Twitter to break news of transactions that teams are about to announce.
The Cardinals have taken a big swing on the potential of running back Jeremiyah Love to make big plays in new head coach Mike LaFleur’s offense.
With the third overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Cardinals took Love, the All-American from Notre Dame.
It’s a bold move by General Manager Monti Ossenfort, as running backs have not been selected this highly in recent NFL drafts. Love is the highest-drafted running back since the Giants took Saquon Barkley No. 2 overall in 2018.
Love is an impressive talent who will make plays both running the ball and as a receiver out of the backfield, and perhaps even lining up at wide receiver in some formations. LaFleur must think Love can make a big impact.
At long last, we’ll find out where the 2026 NFL draftees are headed, starting tomorrow night with the first round.
One player who likely won’t have to wait very long to hear his name called is running back Jeremiyah Love.
Considered by some to be the best player in this year’s class, Love appears certain to be a top-10 pick, and could even go within the top five.
Where will he go? He’s not sure, but he’s aware of the candidates.
“I have no idea where I’m going, but there’s a lot of talk of me going to the Titans, Cardinals, Giants,” Love said Wednesday, via Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com. “Honestly, I’d be blessed to go anywhere.
“Whatever team I go to, I’mma make them better.”
Love, who turns 21 at the end of May, rushed for 1,372 yards with 18 touchdowns and caught 27 passes for 280 yards with three TDs in 12 games for Notre Dame in 2025.
Earlier this month, free-agent quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was reportedly “weighing a few options.”
One of those options includes not playing for anyone.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that Garoppolo is considering retirement.
Garoppolo, 34, was a second-round pick of the Patriots in 2014. Traded to the 49ers, Garoppolo became the starter immediately. He signed after his first season a contract that made him, at the time, the highest-paid player in the NFL.
After the 2022 season, Garoppolo signed with the Raiders as a free agent. He then went to the Rams for 2024 and 2025.
The Cardinals had been linked to Garoppolo in free agency. A snag during contract talks resulted in the Cardinals signing Gardner Minshew.
The Rams, who have only Matthew Stafford and Stetson Bennett on the roster, continue to be interested in Garoppolo.
For now, Garoppolo has to decide whether he’s interested in playing for what would be a 13th NFL season.
Most teams have a clear starting quarterback, obvious contenders for the job, or (at a minimum) concepts of a plan for the position.
The Cardinals, by all appearances, have none of the above.
G.M. Monti Ossenfort made clear this week that the Cardinals don’t have a starter. And to the extent a competition will be unfolding during the offseason program, Jacoby Brissett won’t be there unless and until he gets a new contract.
The other in-house options, for now, are Gardner Minshew and Kedon Slovis.
Before free agency started, Jimmy Garoppolo was linked to Arizona. The Cardinals pivoted to Minshew when talks with Garoppolo broke down.
Garoppolo remains available. Aaron Rodgers is on the market, too. (It’s hard to imagine him having any interest in the team that is stuck in a division with the Seahawks, Rams, and 49ers.) Derek Carr has made noise about a possible unretirement, but he wants to play for a contender. The Cardinals can’t fairly be described with that label.
That leaves the draft. Unless the Cardinals trade up to No. 1 (which is highly unlikely at this point, but not impossible), the next best option is Ty Simpson. They could, in theory, trade down and take Simpson in a lower spot. And there could be a team that sufficiently covets running back Jeremiyah Love to try to leapfrog the Titans at No. 4.
Other available free-agent options with starting experience include Russell Wilson and Tyrod Taylor. Most of the others have signed contracts to be backups (Carson Wentz, Joe Flacco) and a bridge starter (Kirk Cousins, if/when the Raiders take Fernando Mendoza).
As the cliche-because-it’s-true saying goes, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. At quarterback, there’s no indication that the Cardinals are getting better at the most important position on the team. And there’s no sign they have a clear plan for doing so.
Maybe the overriding plan, if there is one, is to accept reality for 2026 and allow nature to take its course. The prize could be dibs on whoever the top quarterback is after the 2026 college football season.
The popular assumption is that it will be Arch Manning. As we’ve seen, however, the player who emerges as the consensus number one for the next year could be a player no one is even thinking about currently. It happened with Mendoza. It happened with Joe Burrow.
Beyond the six games to be played within the NFC West, the Cardinals will face the four teams of the AFC West (which produced two playoff teams in 2025 and still includes the Chiefs), the four teams of the NFC East, and the Lions (who finished last in the NFC North). That’s a recipe for earning the first overall pick in 2027.
Not having a clear plan at quarterback becomes a key ingredient in the stew of factors that could position Arizona for its next shot at a generational talent without having to try very hard to make that happen, once the 2026 season launches.
There’s no suspense about who the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft will be, as the Raiders haven’t hidden their plans to take Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. The suspense begins at No. 2.
And at the moment, Ohio State edge rusher Arvell Reese is the favorite to be the second overall pick in the draft. Multiple sports books now have Reese in the range of a -135 to -150 favorite. Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey, who had previously been favored to go No. 2, is now an underdog in the +100 to +110 range.
The Jets own the No. 2 pick and recently canceled a planned visit with Bailey. Reese did take a visit to the Jets’ facility. The shift in odds may come from a perception that the Jets canceling the visit means they’re not taking Bailey.
But that’s not necessarily a good read on the situation. It could just as easily be that the Jets have already decided they like Bailey so much that they know they’re taking him and don’t need to use one of their 30 league-permitted visits on him. If you’ve already decided to hire someone, there’s no need to call him in for another job interview.
Reese and Bailey are considered the two best pass rushers in this draft, and the one who doesn’t go second may go third. We’ll find out on Thursday night.
The Cardinals haven’t named Jacoby Brissett their starting quarterback, but he reportedly would like a contractual commitment from the team that reflects the chance that he’ll be under center in Week 1.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Brissett has not been in attendance for the first phase of the team’s offseason program. The work is voluntary, so Brissett won’t be fined for his absence.
Brissett closed out last season as the starter and is reportedly looking for a new contract that provides him with more security than his current pact. Brissett is due to make a base salary of $4.88 million in 2026 with $1.5 million of that compensation is guaranteed.
Per the report, the Cardinals appear willing to address Brissett’s contract but it’s unclear when that might happen or what that might look like.
Gardner Minshew is the other option at quarterback in Arizona at the moment. General Manager Monti Ossenfort said on Thursday that the team will “see how that room works by the time we get to August” when asked about who will start and next week’s draft could bring another player into the mix.
Word in March was that Jacoby Brissett has not been told that he is in line to start at quarterback for the Cardinals and nothing has changed over the last few weeks.
Brissett closed out last season as the starter in Arizona and Kyler Murray was released early in the offseason, but Brissett’s experience came under a different head coach and General Manager Monti Ossenfort said at a Thursday press conference that the team is “not really naming anybody and we’ll see how that room works by the time we get to August.”
Gardner Minshew signed with the team as a free agent and head coach Mike LaFleur said that the current focus for both quarterbacks is on things other than the depth chart.
“Right now, none of that is even being discussed because all we’re trying to do is get a foundational aspect of what the system looks like,” LaFleur said.
LaFleur said he’s comfortable with the makeup of the quarterback room because both Brissett and Minshew have played a lot of football over their previous stops around the league. The Cardinals could add another signal caller with less experience in next week’s draft and the coming competition would be a wider one as a result.
