Jeremiyah Love is set to get his first crack in a Cardinals uniform.
Arizona cleared the rookie running back for Sunday’s Week 1 matchup against the Chargers after he entered the day questionable with an ankle injury. Love, who had been working back from a high ankle sprain suffered against the Raiders in preseason play, is good to go for his NFL debut at SoFi Stadium.
The Cardinals and Chargers both released their final inactives list, and Arizona is now less than 90 minutes from the 1:25 PM kickoff. Only 48 players can dress on game day, and Love made the cut.
Love’s return comes after he missed the Cardinals’ final two preseason games and only recently got back onto the practice field. Even with the injury scare, there was plenty of buzz around his availability this week, though Arizona did its best to keep things quiet leading into Sunday.
The rookie flashed enough in Las Vegas to leave a strong impression. In 14 touches during preseason and training camp action, he showed the kind of burst and playmaking ability Cardinals fans were hoping to see.
That talent is part of why Arizona wants to be careful with how it uses him. Running backs coach Matt Merritt made that clear earlier this week.
"Whenever that time comes, just for him to play within himself, not to force anything. He's obviously going to be excited.
Keeping him grounded, confident, just playing one play at a time. So operate at a high level, do the little things right, and let his talent take over," Cardinals RB coach Matt Merritt said this week.
"... When he's going to be out there, the expectation is for him to go perform with however many opportunities he gets."
Love should be part of a rotation that also includes Tyler Allgeier and Bam Knight. Head coach Mike LaFleur said earlier in the week that he doesn’t believe in asking one back to shoulder the entire load.
"I think the backs in some aspects are limited anyways because we're going to sub them. I don't really care if everyone was 1000%, I don't believe in playing those guys 65 of the 65 snaps, or 72 of the 72 snaps," he said.
"So we'll always do what we think is best for these guys, health-wise, first and foremost. And then second, what's going to help us as a team."
Arizona also elevated Kalen King from the practice squad this week.
Whatever the workload looks like, Love is officially available and ready for the first NFL snaps of his career.
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