When the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft comes to a close Thursday night, one thing is for certain, the Arizona Cardinals rumors will be dead.

However, before that happens we are going to continue to get inundated with reports about what they will do with the third overall pick.

If it is not traded, the new speculation is that they will in fact take running back Jeremiyah Love with the third overall pick.

There is growing chatter in league circles that Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is in play with Arizona at No. 3 overall. Ideally, the Cardinals would like to find a team willing to trade up so they can acquire more picks, and there have already been “exploratory” calls,…

In this draft, Love is without question a top five talent. Hell, he could be a top three talent and maybe top two if you remove the quarterback.

So, the Arizona Cardinals taking one of the few blue chip players in this class is not a bad thing.

That being said, taking a running back third overall after signing Tyler Allgeier, with questions at the right tackle position, the pass rusher opposite Josh Sweat, and the complete unknowns at both cornerback (injuries) and quarterback is definitely going to spark some welcomed debate about roster construction.

The other thing is, Love would break an NFL record for running back contracts before ever playing a down.

Jeremiyah Love would make $50,537,014, all guaranteed, before taking an NFL snap (per Spotrac).No RB contract in NFL history has guaranteed that much money.Seems wise. 🥴 https://t.co/opxrPUokDb

There is no doubting the talent of Love, but the question is… Would this be the best use of the Cardinals assets?