The Chargers are now less than a month away from facing off against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1. While it'll be hard to tell what both rosters look like injury-wise until the week of the game, the Cardinals recently received some unfortunate news. Rookie third overall pick RB Jeremiyah Love reportedly suffered a high ankle sprain in the team's first preseason game vs. the Raiders.
Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur came out and at least partially confirmed the reporting by ESPN's Adam Schefter. "It's an ankle, so we'll keep it at that," LaFleur said it.
There's now at least a possibility that Jeremiyah Love doesn't suit up against the Chargers in Week 1.
LaFleur also did not commit to Love being available against the Chargers in Week 1 when asked directly about it. "All I'm focused on is August 15th," LaFleur said when he was asked about it on Saturday. "We'll re-evaluate it going into next week."
"It was a little bit more sore than we were anticipating," LaFleur also said regarding Love's ankle after last week's preseason game.
It goes without saying that this is a potentially huge break for the Chargers. Love was a Heisman finalist in his last collegiate season. He put up 1372 yards on 199 carries with 18 touchdowns. He also added in 280 yards and three touchdowns in the receiving game.
But Arizona does have a deep stall of running backs that extends past Love. Former Falcons RB Tyler Allgeier signed with the team in free agency. Before suffering a season-ending foot injury in 2025, James Conner had consecutive 1000 yard rushing seasons for the Cardinals. Even if Love is out, DC Chris O'Leary will still have to prepare for a team that can move the ball on the ground.
That being said, it would still be a big break for the Chargers if Love doesn't play in Week 1. It still will be O'Leary's first ever game as a defensive coordinator. The Cardinals are perhaps a team that most will take lightly, but there's always any given Sunday in the NFL. If the Chargers defense isn't locked in, there's always a chance they could lose. Week 1 tends to have more surprise upsets than some of the other weeks in the NFL calendar.
If Love does play, O'Leary will have to have his defense ready for both Love and star Radiders RB Ashton Jeanty in back to back weeks to open the season.
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