Jeremiyah Love won’t be the only running back that the Cardinals are monitoring as they head into their Week 1 game against the Chargers.
Veteran James Conner is returning from a foot injury that ended his 2025 season and has limited his practice participation this summer. On Wednesday, head coach Mike LaFleur said that Conner has been making progress but that the team remains unsure if that progress will extend far enough for Conner to play in the opener.
“It’s starting to creep up,” LaFleur said, via Darren Urban of the team’s website.
Love is recovering from an ankle injury that will keep him out of practice this week. If neither back can go, Tyler Allgeier will be in line to be the lead back to kick off the regular season.
Cardinals Clips
The Cardinals are keeping a key piece of their offensive line around.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Arizona has agreed to a two-year contract extension with center Hjalte Froholdt.
Rapoport notes the deal is worth $20 million.
Froholdt was entering the final season of a two-year extension he signed with the club back in Aug. 2024. He’s started all 51 games for Arizona over the last three seasons.
A fourth-round pick in 2019, Froholdt has appeared in 82 games with 57 starts for the Patriots, Browns, and Cardinals. He also spent some time with the Texans.
The Cardinals will be cutting their roster to 53 players this weekend, but that didn’t stop them from adding a pair of players on Tuesday.
The team announced the signings of safety Josh Minkins and punter Jack Browning. No corresponding moves were needed after a series of other moves on Monday left Arizona with open roster spots.
Minkins was undrafted out of Cincinnati last year and spent time with the Patriots. Browning has spent time with the Bills, Ravens and Buccaneers since going undrafted in 2024.
The timing of the moves makes it unlikely that either player will be sticking around past Sunday’s deadline to pare down the rosters, but they could show enough to earn a spot on the practice squad.
The Cardinals activated pass rusher Josh Sweat from the active/physically unable to perform list on Monday, the team announced.
It gets him back in time for some work in Green Bay later this week.
Sweat did not participate in voluntary offseason work, working out on his own, before going on the PUP list at the start of camp. Sweat has needed rehab on his knee since he seriously injured it while in college.
He led the team with 12 sacks last season.
The Cardinals also announced they waived running back Trey Benson with an injury designation. He has been out with a knee issue.
The Cardinals selected Benson in the third round of the 2024 draft, but he played only 17 games. He totaled 451 yards on 92 carries.
Arizona also placed wide receiver Xavier Weaver on injured reserve after Weaver hurt his hamstring in the preseason game against the Cowboys on Saturday night.
The team signed safeties Hudson Clark and Devyn Bobby, helping with depth going into the final preseason game against the Packers. The secondary took hits in the Cowboys game, with safety Rabbit Taylor-Demerson exiting with an injury to his ribs, and safety Wydett Williams and cornerback Kalen King diagnosed with concussions.
The Cardinals have also released tight end Baylor Cupp and wide receiver Bryson Green.
All the moves leave the team with a roster spot, which likely will go to a punter. Punter Blake Gillikin injured his groin Saturday, and coach Mike LaFleur said Monday he will not be available this week.
Cardinals rookie quarterback Carson Beck is making progress, but has not fully recovered from the rib injury he suffered in the Hall of Fame Game.
Head coach Mike LaFleur told reporters on Monday that Beck’s recent throwing session went well, but it’s still to be determined whether or not Beck will be able to play this week’s preseason game against the Packers.
Beck played well in his one preseason appearance, going 15-of-19 for 188 yards with one touchdown and no picks against the Panthers on Aug. 6.
But with the regular season approaching, Beck’s opportunities to get reps are dwindling, which means this injury has affected some of the young quarterback’s development.
“I mean, it’s easy to magnify the quarterback position, a rookie, all that stuff. But, yeah, you get better at football by practicing and playing football,” LaFleur said. “So when you’re not out there, it’s hard to get better, right? So, he’s missed some days. But that’s no different than the nose guard, that’s no different than the receiver, that’s no different than the left tackle — particularly for the younger guys.
“So, it is what it is. Injuries are part of this thing. He’s a tough dude. Like I said, he battled through it for three or four practices before the discomfort became so real that it just wasn’t worth it — because it wasn’t going to improve until we gave him a little bit of time.”
The Cardinals and Packers will have a joint practice this week before playing a preseason game at Lambeau Field on Friday night.
At least one J. Love will not be on the field this week.
Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur told reporters in his Monday press conference that rookie running back Jeremiyah Love will still be sidelined this week, Arizona heads to Green Bay for a joint practice and Friday preseason game.
“He will not be on the field doing any sort of practice or anything like that right now,” LaFleur said.
Love has been out since suffering a high-ankle sprain during the Cardinals’ preseason matchup against the Raiders on Aug. 13. Arizona is reportedly hopeful Love will be able to return by Week 1.
Love had 14 touches in that game — 11 rushing attempts, three catches — for a total of 72 yards.
Fights at joint practices are nothing new in the NFL, but a fracas in this week’s workout with the Packers and Cardinals would present a different wrinkle than we’re accustomed to seeing.
Matt LaFleur is in his eighth year as the head coach of the Packers and his brother Mike is in his first season in the top job for the Cardinals, which led to a quip from the Packers coach about how he’s talking to his players about keeping a cap on their emotions during Wednesday’s session.
“If there’s an issue, I’m going to tell the guys, ‘Hey, you come tag me in. They can tag in my brother. And we’ll throw down on the 50,’” Matt LaFleur said Monday, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.
The Packers coach is the elder brother and he has more experience than Mike, but he said that hasn’t stopped his brother from trying to throw his weight around in planning for this week’s work.
“He’s quick to criticize everything that I put on the schedule,” Matt said. “So, he’s like, ‘Why are we doing this? Why are we doing that? We never do this.’ And I was like, ‘All right, Mike, you’ve got all the answers.’ Nah, it’s been healthy, it’s been good. There’s been give-and-take on both sides for sure.”
LaFleur said it will be “pretty special” to share the field with his brother in this context and it should be a memorable day for the entire family regardless of whether there are any scuffles before the final whistle.
It’s not often that an undrafted rookie offensive lineman has a larger contingent of fans at an NFL game than any of his teammates, but that happened for Cowboys tackle Shiyazh Pete against the Cardinals on Saturday in Arizona.
When Pete signed with the Cowboys after the draft, he became the first member of the Navajo Nation to sign an NFL contract. More than 140,000 members of the Navajo Nation live in Arizona, so when the Cowboys played a preseason game there, his people turned out in large numbers.
“The standing ovation was incredible,” Pete said. “I just want to take a moment to thank all the fans and the people who showed up to support me, and to celebrate my name and wear my jersey. I lost count of how many Navajo Nation flags I saw.”
Pete said he was overwhelmed by the number of fans who came out to support him personally, but not surprised to see how many Native American fans support the Cowboys and the NFL.
“Phoenix is home to a lot of Native American tribes, obviously we got to see that. It was incredible,” Pete said. “A lot of Native Americans support the Cowboys, and they really like football.”
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer chose Pete to break down the team in the locker room after the game, and told the whole team it was inspiring to see how much love Native American fans showed for Pete.
“I saw something tonight I’ve never seen before, in 25 years in the NFL: An entire section cheering for one man,” Schottenheimer said.
Pete said he didn’t have the words to convey what it meant to him.
“It was surreal. It’s hard to find the words to describe it. English probably isn’t the language I’d describe it in,” Pete said.
Pete then said something in Navajo, and when a reporter asked him what it meant, he answered, “Folks back home, folks upstairs in our stadium, will know.”
Cardinals director of college scouting Ryan Gold is currently under investigation by the Arizona Department of Gaming in connection with inside-information and betting allegations that have him suspended from his job. Via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN, Massachusetts is looking into the situation, too.
Per the report, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is exploring “unusual betting patterns” in the state.
Gold’s lawyer, Mike Caspino, continues to assert Gold’s innocence.
“There is absolutely zero substance to the claims made against Ryan Gold,” Caspino told Weinfuss. “The NFL’s investigation is so deeply flawed and so wrong. He will be vindicated next month in our appeal.”
The hearing on Gold’s appeal is set for September 23.
As Weinfuss notes, Gold grew up in Massachusetts. He attended the University of Massachusetts before coaching there from 2011 to 2013.
Gold was accused by the NFL of sharing inside information regarding the team’s plan to make Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love the third overall pick in the 2026 draft. Caspino has said that only owner Michael Bidwill and G.M. Monti Ossenfort knew the team’s plans.
The Cardinals will have their third starting quarterback in as many preseason games when they face the Cowboys on Saturday.
Head coach Mike LaFleur told reporters on Thursday that Gardner Minshew will get the start against Dallas. Rookie Carson Beck started the Hall of Fame Game and Jacoby Brissett started last week.
Beck injured his ribs in the opener and did not play in the team’s second preseason game. LaFleur said that Beck is expected to throw on Thursday and has not been ruled out for this week, but he is unlikely to play.
LaFleur said some of the team’s other starters will play, although first-round pick Jeremiyah Love will not be among them because the running back is recovering from an ankle injury.
