Jeremiyah Love Signs $53M Deal With Cardinals, Enters 2026 as Arizona's Unquestioned Feature Back

As NBC Sports reported, the Arizona Cardinals have officially signed first-round running back Jeremiyah Love to his four-year rookie contract, locking in just over $53 million in guaranteed money — the largest guaranteed figure attached to any running back contract currently on the books in the NFL. The deal includes a fifth-year option Arizona can exercise after Love's third season, giving the franchise long-term control over the player they clearly view as a foundational piece.

Love didn't arrive in the desert on reputation alone. He led the entire country in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, and total offensive touchdowns in each of his final two seasons at Notre Dame — a back-to-back statistical dominance that's nearly impossible to sustain at the college level, let alone replicate. He's a three-down threat with legitimate receiving ability out of the backfield, which matters enormously in an era where NFL offenses demand versatility from their ball carriers.

The contract structure tells you everything you need to know about Arizona's intentions. You don't hand a running back the largest guaranteed deal in the league and then ease him into a timeshare. Love is the Cardinals' RB1 from Week 1, full stop. Arizona's offensive staff will build their ground game around him, and with a young quarterback situation still evolving in the desert, expect the Cardinals to lean heavily on Love to control games, eat clock, and take pressure off the passing attack.

From a prop-betting standpoint, Love immediately becomes one of the most interesting rushing-volume targets in the 2026 NFL season. Feature backs with this level of organizational investment consistently see 18-22 touches per game — and sportsbooks setting early-season rushing attempt lines for Love will likely underprice his volume until the market catches up. His receiving utility adds receptions and receiving yards as secondary markets worth monitoring. Meanwhile, the commitment to Love's ground-heavy role figures to suppress Arizona's overall passing volume, which has downstream effects on Cardinals team passing totals and any quarterback yards props in play.

The receiving angle is worth specific attention. Love caught passes at a high rate out of the Notre Dame backfield, and modern NFL offenses — particularly those trying to protect developing quarterbacks — funnel significant check-down and screen volume to their featured backs. His receptions prop, once set, could carry consistent over value in the early weeks of the season before oddsmakers fully recalibrate to his role.