Jeremiyah Love Is Taking First-Team Reps in Arizona While James Conner Watches

Arizona Cardinals rookie running back Jeremiyah Love has spent the opening weeks of training camp splitting first team snaps with Tyler Allgeier while veteran James Conner has remained out of team drills with a foot issue. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett declined to name Love the starting running back when camp opened, and the team's initial depth chart listed him behind Allgeier. The reps say something different than the depth chart does.

Love was the third overall pick in the 2026 draft out of Notre Dame, the highest a running back has gone for Arizona in a long time. Teams do not spend that kind of capital on a committee back, and camp usage is generally a more honest signal than a preseason depth chart, which is often an exercise in veteran diplomacy.

What is actually confirmed

Confirmed: Love was drafted third overall, he has taken first team reps, and he has shared them with Allgeier. Conner has been absent from team drills, with reporting attributing the absence to a foot issue. Hackett has publicly declined to install Love as the starter.

Not confirmed: any timeline for Conner's return, the eventual snap split once everyone is healthy, or whether Arizona intends to use Love on passing downs. Anyone assigning Love a specific projected touch count in August is guessing at the number that matters most.

The structural point is that a first round running back who is already working with the first team in early August is on a very different trajectory than a rookie buried behind veterans. The depth chart is a formality. The reps are the job interview.

The fantasy case for Love

Draft capital is the single most predictive variable for rookie running back fantasy production, and it is not close. Running backs taken in the top ten overall receive opportunity at rates that later round backs simply do not, because organizations protect their investments with touches.

Love's college profile supports the usage. He was drafted as a three down player, not as a rotational specialist, and Arizona's stated plan involves using him extensively. The specific quote from the reporting is that the team will use him plenty, which is coach speak but coach speak pointing in a clear direction.

The risk is the same risk every rookie back carries. Pass protection is the gate on early down to third down promotion, and rookies who cannot protect the quarterback lose their receiving work to veterans regardless of talent. Allgeier is a capable veteran, and Conner, when healthy, has been a reliable receiver out of the backfield. Both can take the passing down role if Love is not ready.

What it means for Allgeier and Conner

Allgeier is the more interesting fantasy name right now, not the less. A veteran back sharing first team reps with a top three pick in August is usually the player who opens the season as the nominal starter and cedes the job by October. That window has real value in best ball formats and in leagues with deep benches, and Allgeier's cost in drafts is negligible.

Conner's situation is harder to read without a return timeline. A veteran running back missing team drills in August with a foot issue while the team's first round pick takes his reps is a bad combination of facts. If his absence extends into the preseason games, the practical result is that Love enters Week 1 with far more first team work than the veteran, and rookie running backs who win jobs in August tend to keep them.

The Verdexed model take

Our running back projections weight three inputs above all others: draft capital, projected snap share, and offensive quality. Love scores at the top of the league on the first, is trending upward on the second, and faces a genuine question on the third.

Arizona's offensive environment is the variable most drafters are ignoring. A running back's fantasy ceiling is bounded by his offense's scoring opportunities, and a rookie back on a team that struggles to reach the red zone produces yardage without touchdowns. That is the difference between an RB2 season and an RB1 season, and it is not something the player controls.

The model's directional read is that Love's floor is high because of the draft capital and the camp reps, while his ceiling depends on how much Arizona's offense improves. That combination argues for treating him as a high floor RB2 with RB1 upside rather than as a lock at either level.

Where the model diverges from consensus is on Allgeier. A veteran taking first team reps alongside a rookie is systematically undervalued in drafts because the market prices the eventual outcome rather than the transitional one. The first four weeks of a season carry the same weight as the last four.

Betting angle

The market to watch is Arizona's team total in Week 1 and the offensive rushing props that follow from it. Rookie running backs with heavy early workloads generate rushing attempt volume before they generate efficiency, which makes attempt based props more attractive than yardage based props early in a season.

Love's rookie of the year odds are the other live market. Offensive rookie of the year voting has historically favored running backs with high touch counts on teams that win games. The touch count looks likely. The wins are the question, and that is where the price should reflect real doubt.

Arizona's season win total is not a market this news should move. Running back changes do not move team win totals in any meaningful way, and if you see the number shift on camp reports, that is noise to fade.

What to do in your league

Move Love up your rookie rankings and treat the camp reps as more informative than the published depth chart. He is a legitimate target in the middle rounds of redraft and a top asset in rookie drafts.

Take Allgeier late. He is the exact profile of the cheap veteran who produces startable weeks in September while the rookie ramps up, and he is the direct handcuff if anything happens to Love.

Hold on Conner until there is a return timeline. Selling a veteran running back at his lowest point based on an August absence has burned managers before, but do not draft him as anything more than a depth piece until he is back in team drills.

What is next

The preseason opener is the checkpoint. Watch whether Love plays, and if so, whether he works with the first team offense. Rookies the staff plans to lean on frequently get a series or two with the starters in the first exhibition. Rookies still competing for a role get the second half.