Journey of an NFL rookie running back: Can the Cardinals’ Jeremiyah Love accomplish great things? As a rookie?

There have been plenty of running backs taken in the first round of the NFL draft over the history of the league. That’s an easy declaration.

There are fewer who have been named to the NFL All-Rookie Team. And that percentage gets even smaller for a rookie running back who has made the Pro Bowl.

RELATED: JEREMIYAH LOVE SCOUTING REPORT

The list is minuscule when you seek out how many rookie RBs also become the league MVP in their first season. Let’s see, Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns in 1957, and….. Yeah, pretty exclusive club.

For every Barry Sanders, Franco Harris, Marshall Faulk, LaDainian Tomlinson, Paul Hornung, Earl Campbell, Charley Trippi, O.J. Simpson, Saquon Barkley, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, Eric Dickerson, or John Riggins taken in the first round, there is a William Green, Harvey Unga, C.J. Spiller, Sony Michel, Bishop Sankey, Curtis Enis, Tommy Vardell, George Rogers, or Clint Jones ready to tell the tale of how running backs taken in Round 1 are hit or miss.

Editor’s note: While Rogers had a decent career after being taken with the first overall pick by the New Orleans Saints in the 1981 NFL draft, right behind, the New York Football Giants drafted Lawrence Taylor. Ouch.

For a rookie running back to be named to the Pro Bowl in his first year in the league is very remarkable.

Consider the All-Rookie Team. They are looking for only one set of players: guys who have just completed their rookie season. Plus, they name two guys at RB, which adds to the odds. So, depending on how many rookie RBs make rosters in any given year, the percentages of being voted to this prestigious team are pretty good.

A total of 13 running backs were selected in the 2026 NFL draft. There is the same number of undrafted rookie running backs who have been signed to training camp rosters. How many of each kind will stick on the main roster will be determined in late August. Some that become waived will then be signed to team practice squads.

Lindsay’s example

Jeremiyah Love is this year’s big fish. He was taken third overall by the Arizona Cardinals and is projected to become the starting RB for Arizona this year. The Cardinals’ running back room is absolutely busting at the seams with free agent signee Tyler Allgeier, James Conner, Bam Knight, Trey Benson, and Corey Kiner.

Love had 18 touchdowns last year for Notre Dame, plus rushed for 1,372 yards. He started 27 games in his final three seasons with 25 TDs in his last two years. Great receiver, above-average blocker, and exceptional moves with 4.36 speed. High character guy. In high school, he was a sprinter and in football, was voted the “Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year” as well as MaxPreps “Missouri High School Football Player of the Year.”

He will become the workhorse for Arizona. Home run speed with outstanding balance. Very patient runner with good vision and natural ball-tracking abilities with soft hands. If someone can refine his pass-blocking skills when held in the backfield, Love will become national news every game.

But don’t knock guys who aren’t drafted. Pittsburgh Steelers LB James Harrison, RBs Arian Foster of the Houston Texans, San Francisco’s Joe Perry, and Phillip Lindsay of the Denver Broncos, QBs Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys and Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams, and WR Drew Pearson with the Cowboys were all guys who weren’t picked, and then went out and balled out.

Many undrafted guys have been voted to Pro Bowls. TE Antonio Gates of the San Diego Chargers earned eight Pro Bowls. Pearson was named to the NFL 1970s Team. Warner later played for the Cardinals and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So was undrafted OG Larry Little of the Miami Dolphins.

Lindsay was overlooked in the 2018 NFL draft. He was a short, lightly built runner from the University of Colorado, where he was voted Second Team All-Pac 12 his senior year. And despite having 4.39 speed, his phone didn’t ring during the draft.

He had plenty of calls after the draft and decided on the local team, the Broncos. Lindsay grew up in the Washington Park neighborhood on the south side of Denver. The Broncos’ starting RB was Royce Freeman, with Devaontae Booker as backup. Neither was considered a superstar. Lindsay had a really good camp and preseason. After making the final roster, he was listed as RB3 to start Week 1.

The Broncos coaching staff played Lindsay right away, and he began to chip away at that depth chart. He became the first undrafted running back to gain 100+ scrimmage yards in his first two games in the history of the league. In Week 13, he rushed for 157 yards. Lindsay finished the year with 1,278 total yards (1,037 rushing yards, 241 receiving yards) from scrimmage and scored 10 touchdowns. At one point, he was splitting carries with Freeman.

Not only did Lindsay make the NFL All-Rookie Team, but he was voted to the Pro Bowl.   

Which brings us to Love

Lindsay spent three years in Denver, while his final pro football season was 2023. He is now a Denver radio host. He co-hosts the afternoon drive show, known as “The Drive,” on the sports radio station 104.3 The Fan.

As not only a rookie, but a rookie running back in the NFL, he knows how difficult it is to succeed at the next level. NFL linebackers hit harder. NFL defensive ends are faster. NFL safeties will lay you out and make a meme out of the tackle.

Recently on the Action Network (AN), Lindsay was interviewed by AN Cardinals Insider Kyle Odegard when the topic shifted to the Cardinals, and how he perceives Love will perform this year:   

“If you get drafted third overall, that man better go to the Pro Bowl. That should be the expectation. They’re drafting you that high because they believe you can come in and make some noise. They think you can be that dynamic running back who changes the whole offense. This isn’t, ‘Oh, he’s going to take his time.’ You can’t do that when you’re drafted number three overall.”

Right now, the unofficial depth chart for the Cardinals has Love as the starter, with Allgeier and Conner as primary backups. But that is right now, after OTAs and minicamps. Training camp is where the hitting begins, and this new offensive scheme becomes an everyday affair.

LINK: ODEGARD’S FULL INTERVIEW WITH PHILLIP LINDSAY

And suddenly, Love is going against grown-ass men who play football for a living. So “unofficial” depth charts mean nothing at this juncture.

But Love has the pedigree and the accolades from where he played for a national program in a tough conference.

Linday continued:

“(Love) should go over 1,000 yards, with 17 games and the touches he’s going to get. But he has to go out there now and go do it. Nobody’s going to bend over and kiss your butt. You’ve got to go earn every yard you get, and earn respect in this league by going out there and making those plays.”

The beauty of this year’s Arizona roster is that GM Monti Ossenfort made it his mission to improve the offensive line.

There were major issues with the guard spots as well as the right tackle. Both guards, Evan Brown and Will Hernandez, are gone. So are tackles Kelvin Beachum and Jonah Williams. In their places are LG Isaac Seumalo (Steelers), RG Chase Bisontis (Texas A&M), and Elijah Wilkinson (Falcons).

Even the backup offensive line positions have improved in case of an injury.  

Lindsay knows what a running back needs, and the Cardinals have attempted to build an offense that will help Love. And, the revamped offensive line must do its job:

“(The Cardinals) are going to get pullers in front of you to give you an opportunity to be one-on-one with the safety. We’re going to be creative with the pass game out in space, so that you can bring your superpower to our team.”

But just because a guy was a stud in college does not always transfer to the pro game. It’s a completely different animal. Even for solid players. And as Lindsay has stated, going #3 overall in the draft means the franchise is expecting big things from him sooner rather than later.

Lindsay surmised:

“He’s very explosive. He’s very patient. He can catch out of the backfield. The man has it all, and he’s with a team that has drafted him so high. What does that mean? It’s telling you they have a vision for him. You need a team that is going to get you involved.”

Getting Love involved will become the easy part. Making him a Pro Bowler as a rookie? That has always been a tough get.