Jeremiyah Love: Cardinals RB on Offensive Rookie of the Year hype

As the first running back taken in the top three of the NFL draft since Saquon Barkley in 2018, expectations are sky high for the Arizona Cardinals' Jeremiyah Love.

The bookmakers have already made him the 2026 Offensive Rookie of the Year, marginally ahead of first overall pick, Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

Unusually grounded for a 21-year-old, Love isn't getting carried away with the hype.

"As long as you do your part on the team, usually you'll get the personal accolades and the personal goals that you have in your mind," he told reporters on Monday.

"My goal for myself is to jell really well with this team and do whatever coach LaFleur wants me to do, and do it to the best of my ability," he added.

Love on personal goals and the team

Love produced an incredible 2,497 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns in his last two years with the Fighting Irish, earning the Doak Walker Award and Unanimous All-American honours.

He's not averse to setting personal targets at the pro level, but only if they make sense within the context of the collective.

"I've always been the type to set goals for myself, but they've always been connected to the team in some type of way," he said.

"Last year, I wanted to win the Doak Walker Award in college, wanted to win the Heisman, but those things weren't going to happen unless I did what I had to do for my team and play my role for the team.

"Both of them go hand in hand, so I kind of try to make everything team-oriented. At the end of the day, it's a team sport. You can't do anything by yourself, especially as a running back.

"Got to have a good O-line, got to have a quarterback that can read defenses and see a lot of things, and you've got to have receivers that can take the top off to lighten up the box, as well.

"Everything goes hand in hand, so I try not to make things personal and make it all team-oriented. Because if the team is good, a lot of times you're going to do good as well.

"I've learned throughout my time just playing football, the personal goals aren't going to get you really where you want to get to," Love added. "It's all about the team at the end of the day."

Cardinals backfield depth and carry split

Christian Petersen / Staff

Part of that framing is practical, because Arizona has James Conner, Tyler Allgeier, Trey Benson and Zonovan Knight fighting for snaps behind Love in the pecking order.

Love will get the first bite of the cherry, but head coach Mike LaFleur indicated that he's not promising anything to anyone, telling the media, "You're not taking the hot hand out."

Barring injury, the Notre Dame will undoubtedly lead the team in carries, but he knows he'll need help.

"Being in the big leagues, all the pressure is not going to be on me," Love said. "You've got guys like Marv[in Harrison Jr.], Trey [McBride].

"We've got a lot of guys in the running back room, as well, so split some carries if need be. You don't need just one guy going out there and getting 30 carries a game.

"What do we got, 21 games this season potentially? So, that's not going to do too good in the long run."

Rookie of the Year and training camp prep

The Cardinals wrapped up mandatory minicamp on June 10 and are scheduled to commence training camp on July 22.

In the meantime, Love is staying local, and there's no talk of downtime.

"The rest of the time this break is to train my body to get prepared for training camp so I'm ready to play actual football," he said.

"The mentality is all gas, no breaks until the time training camp comes, and once training camp comes, I'm prepared, and I'm ready to go."

With that kind of mentality, the bookmakers might be onto something.