Jeremiyah Love Headlines a Crowded Cardinals Backfield: The Fantasy Order in Arizona

The Cardinals used the third overall pick in the 2026 draft on Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, the highest a running back has been selected since the Giants took Saquon Barkley second overall in 2018. They then signed Tyler Allgeier away from Atlanta in free agency. The result is a backfield with a premium rookie, a proven veteran complement, a former lead back returning from a season-ending injury, and a 2024 third-round pick who may not have a role at all. Sorting that order is one of the more consequential fantasy questions of August.

What Arizona actually bought

Love ran for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns in his final college season, clearing 100 yards in six of 14 games. He is the first running back the Cardinals have taken in the first round since Beanie Wells in 2009, and the highest they have drafted at the position since Garrison Hearst went third overall in 1993. Teams do not spend the third overall pick on a running back to split carries evenly.

That is the single most important fact for fantasy purposes. Draft capital is the most reliable public predictor of rookie running back usage, and there is no higher draft capital available at the position. Whatever the depth chart says in early August, the organizational intent is that Love is the lead back.

Where that leaves James Conner

Conner's 2025 ended in Week 3 with a foot injury, and he returns to a room that was rebuilt around him rather than for him. He now projects as the third option at best, behind Love and Allgeier, and the case for anything more rests entirely on the rookie's early-season workload management and on Conner's history as a competent short-yardage and goal-line finisher.

This is the kind of situation where fantasy managers get punished for name recognition. Conner has been a useful fantasy back for years, and that history will keep him drafted higher than his projected role justifies. Treat him as a bench stash with contingency value, not as a flex play.

Allgeier is the more interesting veteran here. He arrives from Atlanta, where he spent his career as the complement to a first-round back, which is precisely the job description Arizona signed him to fill again. He has a track record of producing efficiently in that role, and he is the most likely beneficiary if Love's snap count is managed early. Allgeier has already been climbing in ADP this summer, and the climb is justified.

Trey Benson, the 2024 third-round pick, faces the steepest climb. A third-year back who is fourth in line behind a top-three draft pick, a free-agent signing and an established veteran is a player whose relevance depends on injuries ahead of him.

The offense is the problem

Here is the complication that keeps Love from being a slam-dunk first-round fantasy pick. Arizona is rebuilding. The Cardinals moved on from Kyler Murray, who signed with Minnesota in free agency, and enter camp with Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew and rookie Carson Beck all in the quarterback picture. That is a room built for stability, not for explosive offense.

A rebuilding team with unsettled quarterback play is an environment that suppresses running back scoring in two ways. It reduces total offensive snaps, because bad offenses go three-and-out. It reduces red-zone trips, which is where running back fantasy points concentrate. It also increases the odds of negative game script, which pushes a team away from the run entirely.

The counterweight is that a team without a passing-game identity often leans harder on its most expensive offensive asset. If Arizona's quarterback play is as uncertain as it looks, Love's carry share may be higher than it would be on a better team, even if the efficiency is worse.

The Verdexed model take

Verdexed's rookie running back projections combine draft capital, projected snap share, and team offensive environment, and Love is a case where the first two inputs pull hard in one direction while the third pulls back.

On draft capital alone, the model places Love in the top tier of rookie backfield projections in recent seasons. On offensive environment, Arizona rates in the bottom third of the league for projected red-zone trips. The blended output lands Love as a back-end RB2 with a wide distribution, with the upper tail reaching low-end RB1 territory if he takes the job outright in September and the lower tail sitting in flex range if Arizona splits work and the offense stalls.

That is a more measured projection than the consensus rankings, which have generally treated the draft capital as decisive. The practical read: Love is worth drafting, but not at a price that assumes 300 touches and a functional offense around him.

Allgeier is where the model shows the clearest surplus. His projection, driven by expected complementary volume in an offense that will likely trail often, sits above his current cost. Conner's projection sits below his.

What to do in your league

Draft Love as a high-end RB2 and refuse to pay an RB1 price. The talent and the draft capital justify the pick; the offense does not justify the premium.

Take Allgeier as a mid-to-late-round target and treat him as more than a handcuff. In a backfield where the rookie's early workload will likely be managed, the complement has standalone flex value from Week 1.

Let someone else draft Conner. If he falls to the last two rounds, the contingency value is fine, but there is no version of this depth chart where he is a weekly starter unless two players in front of him are unavailable.

Avoid Benson entirely outside of deep dynasty leagues.

What's next

Arizona opens the preseason against Carolina in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton on August 6, which gives this backfield an earlier public audition than most. Rookies at the top of the draft rarely play much in exhibitions, so the more useful signal will be the first-team snap distribution in the two joint practices and the second preseason game.

The number to watch is Love's third-down participation. If the Cardinals are willing to leave a rookie on the field in passing situations, his projection moves up a full tier. If they substitute Allgeier or Conner on third down, this is a committee, and the fantasy ceiling comes down with it.