Why the nerds hate the Cardinals' Jeremiyah Love selection originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The 2026 NFL Draft has become the closest thing to a national holiday, and on the football calendar, no day conjures up more optimism.
So there's nothing wrong with being excited about your team's pick, enticed by upside and willing to let the naysayers wait until September. But before the losses arrive this fall, analysis is bound to humble the masses.
And the analysts hate the Arizona Cardinals' first-round pick.
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With the third pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Cardinals took arguably the class's most talented player, Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love.
Despite the talent, highlights and identity he'll bring to Arizona, it will almost certainly be graded as one of the worst picks of Round 1.
That's not an indictment of Love's talent. But in a salary cap league, surplus value is king, and there's little room for upside by taking a running back. From a positional value standpoint, running back is towards the bottom of the spectrum. Good running backs don't create rushing offenses by themselves, and on bad teams, they are often held back by below-average offensive lines.
History hasn't been kind to these selections. The New York Giants taking Saquon Barkley at No. 2 in 2018 defined a half-decade of disappointing football. When he left for the Philadelphia Eagles, the improvements in his environment paved a path to a historic season. Just last year, Ashton Jeanty struggled to get off the ground on a Las Vegas Raiders team destined for failure.
The Cardinals share far more qualities with those cellar-bound teams than Barkley's second home, and he'll be expected to produce as such. With questions up front, no franchise quarterback and a new head coach, Arizona's projected win total won't meaningfully change because of its first-round pick.
With high-profile defenders like Arvell Reese and Rueben Bain still on the board, the Cardinals had the opportunity to take a game-changing pass rusher. They opted for Love, who isn't likely to return value until the rest of the roster improves. Now, Arizona won't have a top-five pick to help that cause.
The financials only add to the Cardinals' criticism. Love, as the third pick, will be paid like the seventh-highest earning back in football. An edge rusher would've been closer to the 30th-ranked player at their position. Subsequently, Arizona isn't getting a discount on a high-level player, unlike their top-picking counterparts.
Love will have a lot to prove at the next level. He certainly has the talent to do so. Love had a Heisman-worthy season, was the runaway RB1 and is in the same tier of prospect as Jeanty last season. The median outcome is likely that Love is an excellent running back who headlines Arizona's offense for years to come.
Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it was the best pick possible for a Cardinals team looking to hit the reset button in 2026.
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