Love limited in practice, itching for Week 1 as Cardinals weigh ankle readiness

Jeremiyah Love is back on the practice field, limited, and already saying what every coach hears from a healthy-enough rookie: put me in.

The Arizona Cardinals' No. 3 overall pick returned to limited practice this week while recovering from a left high ankle sprain suffered Aug. 13 in the Las Vegas preseason game - his only preseason appearance, when he ran 11 times for 58 yards and caught three passes for 14 yards, according to azcardinals.com's Darren Urban.

Urban's Sept. 10 report framed the next decision as Jonathan Gannon and the staff's call, not Love's appetite.

"Itching" since August

Love has not played an NFL snap in a regular-season game. His last competitive football before the Las Vegas preseason came in November 2025 at Notre Dame; he skipped the bowl. That layoff makes Week 1 against the Chargers in Los Angeles on Sunday more than a debut checkbox - it is the first real measure of whether the ankle can hold in live speed.

His quotes to Urban left little ambiguity. "If they want to put me out there, I'm going to go out and play, whether my ankle feels 100 percent, 50 percent, 70 percent... I just want to play football." And: "I have been itching to get back out there ever since I injured my ankle." He also said he likes working with offensive coordinator Ben LaFleur.

Wanting to play and being cleared to play are different sentences. Urban's reporting kept availability listed as to be determined.

Depth chart signals, not decrees

LaFleur said Wednesday that "we feel good," per Urban. Tyler Allgeier is listed as the RB1; LaFleur said that listing does not dictate who will actually lead the room Sunday. Bam Knight is third on the published depth chart. Elevating Evan Hull from the practice squad on Saturday, Urban noted, would be a tell that Love may sit for the opener.

Those are the concrete levers outsiders can watch. A limited practice week after an Aug. 13 high ankle sprain is progress from zero reps; it is not the same as unrestricted work or a public declaration that Love will start - or even dress - against Los Angeles.

Why the backfield matters in Week 1

Arizona opens on the road against the Chargers. A rookie taken third overall is drafted to change a backfield's ceiling; a high ankle sprain in mid-August is one of the injuries that most often steals early-season explosiveness even when a player insists he can go. Allgeier's listing as RB1 gives the Cardinals a veteran hinge if Love's reps stay capped.

Knight as the third name and Hull as a possible elevation sketch a contingency plan that does not depend on Love being full-go for the first snap of the regular season.

Love's preseason sample was small but productive on a per-touch basis in that Las Vegas game. The staff's job now is translating limited practice and a player's urgency into a snap count that does not re-aggravate the ankle in the season's first quarter of football.

What to watch before kickoff

Between now and Sunday, the tells are procedural: how many practice reps Love takes as the week closes, whether he is upgraded from limited, and whether Hull's name appears on the elevation list Saturday. LaFleur's "we feel good" is the optimistic public line; Love's willingness to play through an imperfect ankle is the player's line.

The depth chart and any practice-squad move will show which line the coaching staff is actually writing into the game plan.

For a franchise that invested a top-three pick in the position, Week 1 is less about moral victories and more about whether the ankle that went sideways in Las Vegas can hold up when the Chargers stack the box in Los Angeles.

Sources

https://www.azcardinals.com/news/cardinals-rb-jeremiyah-love-itching-to-play-but-waiting-for-coach-s-call