The Arizona Cardinals' selection of running back Jeremiyah Love with the third overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft was spotlighted in ESPN's documentary series "The Pick is In," which premiered this past Sunday. But if you were hoping for a behind-the-scenes look at the Cardinals' infamous draft-night hiccup, you might have been left wanting more.
The documentary primarily focused on Love's journey from the perspective of his agent, Kyle McCarthy. Early on draft day, McCarthy told Love he believed the Cardinals at No. 3 represented his client's highest potential landing spot. It was a bold prediction that, in the end, proved spot-on.
When the Cardinals went on the clock—following the Las Vegas Raiders' selection of quarterback Fernando Mendoza at No. 1 and the New York Jets' pick of edge rusher David Bailey at No. 2—the tension in the draft room was palpable. The clock ticked down, but no pick was filed. Love wasn't getting the call, and his agent, along with other teams watching the broadcast, assumed the Cardinals were fielding trade offers. It was a moment that had fans and analysts alike speculating wildly.
As it turned out, the delay wasn't about a trade at all. Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort later revealed the real reason: "We had the wrong phone number. The phone number that we were given was the wrong one, and so that was a little bit of the delay. But we got that straightened out and we called Jeremiyah and got a hold of him. That is what the delay was."
In a twist of irony, Love received the call without his agent even realizing it, and the pick was finally announced. You'd think such a quirky, drama-filled moment—complete with a wrong number causing a draft-room scramble—would have been a natural fit for a documentary designed to capture the raw emotion of draft night. But "The Pick is In" chose to gloss over it entirely.
Unless you caught Ossenfort's explanation on draft night or are reading this for the first time, you might have missed one of the more amusing, if minor, Cardinals mishaps in recent memory. It's a reminder that even on the biggest stage, sometimes the simplest things—like dialing the right digits—can make all the difference.
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