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When is Jeremiyah Love coming back? Will Jeremiyah Love play again this season? Read about Jeremiyah Love's return date and injury updates for 2026.
Arizona Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love (ankle) was the consensus first rookie off the board in fantasy drafts this season. In addition, Love was selected third overall by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2026 NFL Draft, so it is safe to say that there were high expectations for him to begin this season.
Love sustained a high ankle sprain in the team's Week 4 matchup against the New York Giants. He attempted to play through the injury in Week 5 but would eventually face a further setback, which has kept him sidelined for the last two games.
Love has had a disappointing start, but he has hardly had an opportunity to display the upside hoped for by fantasy managers. When will Love return? When he does, will he be a fantasy difference maker?
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Jeremiyah Love Injury Update for Fantasy Football
Prior to Arizona Cardinals Week 7 matchup versus the Denver Broncos, ESPN's Ian Rapoport reported that Love is "trying to get right after a high-ankle sprain, will miss another game this week."
Love was a DNP at practice all week and eventually missed Week 7, but Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Mike Lafleur announced on Monday's presser that Love will return to practice on Wednesday ahead of their Week 8 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. This indicates that there is a decent possibility of Love ultimately suiting for Week 8.
Jeremiyah Love to practice Wednesday (@theo_mackie)
— RotoBaller NFL (@RotoBallerNFL) October 26, 2026
Love has dealt with two separate high ankle sprains so far in his NFL career, the other in the preseason, but the hope is that he can return to the field in Week 8 with minimal restrictions.
Managers should pay close attention to his status during Wednesday's practice as he could be in the mix to return this weekend.
Jeremiyah Love Fantasy Football Outlook
Although Love may come back and reclaim a decent workload from running backs Bam Knight and Tyler Allgeier, there is reason to believe that his opportunity won't be massive. In order to keep Love healthy, HC Mike Lafleur may need to avoid giving him a workhorse role.
“This is probably gonna be the longest year of my life.”
Jeremiyah Love 😳 https://t.co/vllDlh6xz3
— PHNX Cardinals (@PHNX_Cardinals) October 4, 2026
That being said, Love was touted as an explosive player out of the University of Notre Dame and has high receiving upside. In his first three games of the 2026 season, when he was fully healthy, Love caught a total of 10 passes on 12 targets, which makes his role valuable in leagues awarding points for receptions. He also performed well in the preseason, showcasing his shiftiness and big-play ability.
Serious high ankle sprains have a tendency to sap explosiveness, even from the best athletes in the NFL. If Love plays in Week 8, though, that would only be a total of two weeks missed. This is on the low end of a typical return timeline, which could give us reason to believe that his injury is not as severe.
The quickness we saw just one month ago, in Week 3 against the San Francisco 49ers, is not outside the realm of possibilities.
Jeremiyah Love runs his way to a first down 😤
@AZvsSF on FOX/FOX One
Stream on @NFLPlus https://t.co/jcEOAy7TYd— NFL (@NFL) September 27, 2026
Love has seen at least 12 touches in each of his five appearances. This could easily continue, even with a reduced workload due to injury. As Love gets healthier and more comfortable in the offense, it is fair to assume he'll get even more backfield touches than Allgeier and Knight.
The Arizona Cardinals are currently 2-5 and have the most points against in the entire NFL at 208 points over just seven games. With such a porous defense, the Arizona Cardinals are typically forced into a pass-heavy script, which could favor Love's pass-catching prowess over the other backs in the rotation.
This is all the more true with their Week 8 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, who have an explosive offense and a struggling defense.
While Love may not live up to his previous expectations when he was drafted by managers in the third round of fantasy drafts, he has an opportunity to recover the majority of the backfield touches.
If Love is any semblance of his pre-injury self, fantasy managers can expect to have a low-end RB2/high-end RB3 in their lineups, with weekly upside for more throughout the rest of the season.
Who Should I Start Tool
Compare up to four players and we'll tell you who to start...
Week 8 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players: Jeremiyah Love, Bam Knight, Tyler Allgeier. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 8.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player name. In the second box, search for the second player name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, player news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circle), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 8 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 8 (2026)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 8 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 8 for Jeremiyah Love, Bam Knight, Tyler Allgeier:
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