Jeremiyah Love has ‘more to give’ Cardinals after impressing in limited NFL debut, GM says

It took Cardinals rookie Jeremiyah Love just three touches into his NFL career to score his first touchdown in Arizona’s season-opening win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Love got to the edge on L.A.’s defense for the score, one of his 13 touches on the day.

“Jeremiyah got off to a good start there,” Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke. “I think what’s sometimes lost on Jeremiyah being as fast and explosive as he is, is Jeremiyah is a tough, physical runner and he is not afraid to put the ball up.”

The GM emphasized Love’s ability to not only hit the home runs, but also turn plays that should be zero or negative yards into positive gains.

“Those are NFL-style runs and then you got to be ready for when that crease does hit, then we’re ready to hit the explosive, but those are fewer and farther between than they are in college football,” Ossenfort said. “It was encouraging, and I still think he’s got more to give us.

“So we’re excited about those two running backs, what they did for us this past Sunday and expect more of the same this week.”

The rookie finished with 41 yards along with the score on 11 rushes, and he added nine yards on two catches.

Love’s 13 touches were one shy of his workload in his preseason debut that he left with a high ankle sprain about a month ahead of the regular-season debut. He entered the opener with a “questionable” listing on the injury report, but head coach Mike LaFleur said there would be “no limit” placed by coaches on the rookie.

Tyler Allgeier, the veteran newcomer with nearly 700 rushes under his belt, had just six more touches on the day and tallied 61 rushing yards. Allgeier had 18 more snaps in the backfield but six fewer snaps as a receiver in the slot compared to Love, per PFF.

While the total touches for the day were close, they were not when the game was in the balance.

Allgeier had nine carries in the fourth quarter while Arizona nailed down its lead and chewed the clock, as Love had just one.

LaFleur said Friday the rotation will continue, and he’ll ride with whichever hand is hottest.

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