Jeremiyah Love Averaged 5.3 Yards in His Cardinals Debut While James Conner Watched

Arizona rookie running back Jeremiyah Love, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2026 draft, made his preseason debut with 11 carries for 58 yards and three catches for 14 yards. The 5.3 yards per carry is the least important number in that line. The volume is the story: a top-five pick receiving a workload that large in a first exhibition, days after taking first-team reps in camp while veteran James Conner worked behind him, is the clearest possible statement about how Arizona intends to use its backfield.

Conner remains on the roster and remains a capable NFL back. He is also 31 and no longer the player Arizona is building around.

What the usage says

Coaches script preseason snaps deliberately. A rookie who is already established as the starter typically plays one series and comes out. A rookie who is being evaluated gets a heavy dose against second-team defenses. Love got the second treatment, which suggests Arizona wants live reps on him rather than that his job is in doubt.

The receiving work is the more meaningful detail. Three targets in a limited appearance is not a large sample, but running backs who are drafted in the top five and used in the passing game in August are almost always used in the passing game in October. Pass-game involvement is what separates an RB2 from an RB1, and it is the variable most often mispriced in August drafts.

Conner's role is the open question. Arizona has not said he is a backup, and coaching staffs are reluctant to make that declaration publicly about a veteran who has produced. The reps tell a different story than the press conference, and the reps have favored Love.

The fantasy fallout

Love's ADP has been climbing since camp opened, and this performance will push it further. He is being drafted as a starting NFL running back on a team with a defined need at the position, which is the correct framing. The question is whether he is priced as an RB1 or as a rookie with RB1 upside, and the answer right now is somewhere in between.

Conner is the more actionable name. His draft cost has fallen as Love's has risen, and he is now available at a price that assumes a limited role. That is a reasonable assumption, but it undersells two things: Conner's history of producing when given volume, and the near-certainty that a rookie back at his workload will miss time at some point. A veteran handcuff who could reclaim a full workload with one injury is one of the better late-round assets in fantasy football.

The other beneficiary is the Arizona passing game. A backfield with a genuine receiving threat changes the coverage math on early downs, which helps the intermediate route concepts that Arizona's receivers rely on.

The Verdexed model take

The model projects Arizona's rushing attempt volume as roughly league average, with a red-zone conversion profile that skews toward the run more than the passing personnel would suggest. That combination supports one high-volume back rather than a committee.

Under the base case, Love projects as a low-end RB1 by total touches and a mid-RB2 by expected touchdowns, with the gap driven by Arizona's projected offensive scoring environment rather than by anything about his role. Rookie running backs on middling offenses tend to be volume plays without efficiency spikes, and the model does not project a spike.

The variable that would change that is receiving share. If Love holds a meaningful target share rather than ceding third downs to Conner, his projection moves up roughly a full tier. That is the single thing to watch across the remaining preseason.

For betting, the model's position is that Love's rushing yardage season prop is priced fairly and his receptions prop is the softer number. Markets are consistently slow to price rookie receiving volume, because it is genuinely hard to forecast and books default to conservative baselines.

What to do in your league

Draft Love where a starting running back on a league-average offense goes, not where an elite one goes. He is a fine RB2 with a path to more, and paying an RB1 price for a rookie whose offense is unproven is how drafts go wrong.

Take Conner late. He is one of the cleanest handcuff situations on the board, and unlike most handcuffs he has standalone value if Arizona uses him on passing downs.

If you already have Love, take Conner too. The cost is a final-round pick and it protects a meaningful investment.

What's next

Preseason Week 2 is the more informative game. Starters play a series or two, which means Love will get his first look against a first-team defense and the third-down personnel package becomes visible. If Love is on the field on third and six with the starters, his projection changes materially. If Conner is, the rookie is a two-down back with touchdown dependence.

The other date to circle is Arizona's final injury report before Week 1, which will indicate whether the team is easing Love in or handing him the job outright. Everything else in this backfield follows from that.

The historical comparison

Top-five running backs who take meaningful preseason volume in their first exhibition have, as a group, gone on to lead their teams in carries as rookies at a very high rate. That is not because the preseason snaps caused anything. It is because coaching staffs that intend to feature a rookie behave differently in August than staffs that intend to bring one along slowly, and the preseason usage is the visible symptom.

The more instructive comparison for Arizona specifically is what happens to the veteran. Backs in Conner's position, a productive thirty-something displaced by premium draft capital, typically retain a role through September and lose it by November unless the rookie gets hurt. The value in that pattern is that Conner's price is set now, in August, when he still looks like a viable committee member, and his actual usefulness comes later, when he is the emergency answer for a manager whose first-round back is unavailable.

That is the argument for taking him even in leagues where you do not roster Love. Handcuffs on other managers' rosters have negative value. Handcuffs to a rookie carrying a full workload for the first time have positive value to whoever is willing to hold them for eight weeks.