The Arizona Cardinals hired Mike LaFleur for a reason: to parlay his experience as an offensive coach into creating a unit that can score points, make things difficult for defenses and take pressure off their own defense.
To listen to LaFleur gush about running back Jeremiyah Love after he was selected with the third pick in the draft Thursday, it seems clear the decision to make Love the pick instead of an edge rusher or some other position was as much about general manager Monti Ossenfort listening to LaFleur and agreeing that the impact Love can make is immeasurable.
Especially in concert with other offensive weapons that includes tight end Trey McBride and wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson.
Aside from his obvious skills, Love’s elite talent includes the ability to make big plays, something a defense has to account for.
“Running back, receiver, tight end; there's no secret in this league explosives are massive,” LaFelur said Thursday night. “When you look outside of obvious points, what are the two biggest factors statistically? It's turnovers and explosives. It's actually closer than you'd think, and so any time and any way you can generate explosives, that's a good thing for the offense. Anytime you can obviously limit explosives from a defense, that's a good thing for the Arizona Cardinals.
“When you bring in explosive playmakers at any position, you're giving yourself a better chance to have those explosives. I don't have to call the greatest plays sometimes when you just get the ball to a guy like Trey McBride. He breaks three tackles and he turns it into an explosive. Same thing with our receivers. So anytime you can get that from the backs, it's just that next position that allows you to get those explosives.”
Now, that’s impact. Even San Francisco 49ers John Lynch took notice Thursday. In his post-round press conference, a reporter asked, “I know you’re focused on your pick, but at 13 your reaction to the Rams taking a guy (quarterback Ty Simpson) that isn’t going to immediately impact them next year.”
After a short pause and before answering the question directly, Lynch said, “Well, I think, first of all, another team in our division, they got a player who is going to have impact. Jeremiyah Love. He’s a fantastic player.”
Ossenfort mentioned impact when asked about the debate over using premium picks on what many describe as a non-premium position.
He said, “I think with that, we are evaluating each player, each position and we’re stacking our board. When we’re picking that high, the goal is to add an impact player. There were certainly other players that we talked about. We talked about the position; understand all of that. In the end we felt we added the guy that could impact our team the most and (we’re) just really excited about the versatility that he brings to the offense.”
LaFleur didn’t have to watch the tape from the 2025 season to know how the Cardinals offense was cut off at the ankles by the absence of a consistent ground attack after both James Conner and Trey Benson were injured early in the season.
He referenced the versatility Ossenfort mentioned, saying, “I’ve said this with running backs; they do come in all shapes and sizes. What’s unique about him in my opinion is that in all three phases -- and what I mean in all three phases is the run game and the pass game and protection -- he has the ability to mix it in all those, so you guys see all of the explosive stuff.
“That’s all there, but he didn’t have that weakness in my opinion in any of those phases so you can put him in those situations. He has to learn this game; he has to learn the NFL. He has to learn the speed of it. There’s a lot still that needs to be learned and practiced and all that, but he definitely has the tools to get there.”
It also goes beyond ability with Love. LaFleur emphasized, “He’s just a real dude. He’s a very easy guy to talk to. He’s very mature. Like (Ossenfort) said, he’s got his head on straight and he’s about the right stuff. He comes from a great family. I think his story is awesome, but above all, just right when he walked in you knew you had a man in there. He loves it, he’s smart, he’s tough and he’s got all of those attributes.
“He can run between the tackles. So when it gets tough on Sundays in the second, third, fourth quarter, he can still churn out those yards. And he’s a better human. He’s made of the right stuff.”
For his part, Love was revealing when he was asked if he takes more pride in the 2-yard touchdown run he had against Penn State or the 98-yarder against Indiana in 2024.
He answered emphatically, “The 2-yard run. The 2-yard run I feel like just shows you what type of player I am more than a 98-yard run. You have to be really gritty to get into the end zone. You have to be choosy. Not willing to be denied. You have to have strength, you have to have courage, and you have to have everything to get those two yards or get those short-yardage yards to get a first down, touchdown or whatever it may be.
“You have to have grit. You have to have heart. You just have to be that guy. You just have to muscle your way through it. I always love my short-yard runs better than my long runs because long runs are easy. I break out wide and I just showcase my speed. But those gritty runs, those tough runs; those are the runs that show you what type of player that I am.”
That’s surely music to LaFleur’s ears. He just hopes Jeremiyah Love proves that the long ones are as “easy” as he claims.
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