Jeremiyah Love’s first real NFL controversy has nothing to do with football, and that’s exactly why it blew up.
The former Notre Dame star is headed into his rookie season with the Arizona Cardinals after signing a deal worth $13 million a year and a $35 million signing bonus. On paper, that kind of money makes a Lamborghini Urus look like the sort of purchase plenty of first-round picks could justify. But once word spread that Love reportedly bought the vehicle for his girlfriend, the reaction turned loud and judgmental fast.
The New York Post’s Grant Young framed it this way: "Love’s deal also includes a staggering $35 million signing bonus. And it appears that the rookie has spent a solid chunk of that bonus on his girlfriend, Aliece." That’s the line that set off the latest wave of criticism, even though the math doesn’t really support the outrage.
If the car cost $300,000, that comes out to less than 1% of his signing bonus. Calling that a "solid chunk" stretches the phrase well past its limit. It’s more like a sliver than a splurge.
A lot of the pushback has centered on comments Love made after signing with Arizona. He said: "I'm not spending any of my NFL checks," The former Notre Dame star said shortly after the draft.
"All of that money, my financial advisor is going to take care of all that... It's going to be there, making more and more money.
The first thing I might buy with my marketing money is a house for my parents, a car for my dad."
That distinction matters here. Love is believed to have made about $1.6 million in his final season in South Bend from "marketing money," and that kind of income could easily cover a $300,000 car for Aliece, plus another one for himself. It could also leave room for the house for his parents that he mentioned, while keeping his NFL contract money untouched.
Still, the conversation has drifted into the usual rush to label this as a rookie mistake. But the only real mistake in this whole episode seems to be people treating a personal purchase like a scandal.
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