Jeremiyah Love Is RB31. History Says That Won’t Last.

Seven running backs have been drafted in the top 12 since 2016. All seven finished their rookie year as a top-11 PPR back. Love was picked third overall, and he’s sitting at RB31.

Fantasy managers are running out of time. According to Sleeper, Love is the No. 1 player on winless fantasy teams. Those managers need wins now, and they may be willing to give him up to get them.

That’s the moment to buy. Love’s slow start has an obvious explanation: two ankle injuries. Rookie backs with his draft pedigree have finished in the top 11 every time since 2016. And his fantasy playoff schedule includes the defense that gives up the most points to running backs.

History is on his side

Since 2016, seven running backs have been drafted in the top 12. Every one of them finished his rookie season as a top-11 PPR running back.

Teams don’t spend a top-12 pick on a running back unless they plan to feed him. That volume is why the floor has held for a decade. Love went third overall, higher than every back on this list except Barkley.

A playoff schedule built for him

This is what makes Love a league winner. In Weeks 15 through 17, the most common fantasy playoff weeks, the Cardinals play the Jets, the Saints and the Raiders.

That’s two great matchups and a neutral one. The Saints have given up more PPR points to running backs than any defense in football. A healthy Love gets them in the fantasy semifinals. Expect him to be a top-15 back once he’s back from the injury.

The slow start is an ankle

Love has never had a fully healthy stretch this season. He suffered a high ankle sprain in an August preseason game against the Raiders, and his left ankle has bothered him for weeks since. The Cardinals ruled him out against the Rams in Week 6 after he missed a full week of practice. Coach Mike LaFleur said there was no discussion of injured reserve, and Love will miss Week 7 as well. Arizona is giving the ankle time to heal, which is exactly what you want from a back you’re buying for December.

Week 3 is the one to watch. When the Cardinals gave Love a full workload against the 49ers, he turned 21 carries and five catches into 21.9 points. In every other game he got 14 carries or fewer. Even limited, he produced: in Week 4 against the Giants, Love played 30 snaps to Tyler Allgeier’s 36 and still turned 14 carries into 63 yards. That’s what a back playing through an ankle looks like, not a back who can’t play.

The Jeanty blueprint

A bad team doesn’t sink a top-10 rookie back. Last year Ashton Jeanty played for a Raiders team that went 3–14, and his season was a roller coaster. He scored 33.5 points in Week 4, then 4.4 in Week 7. He had games of 5.8 and 8.2 in December, right as fantasy managers needed him most.

Then came Week 16, the fantasy semifinals. Jeanty put up 31.8 points against the Texans and finished the season as RB11 in PPR.

The Raiders never stopped feeding him. Even while losing week after week, they gave Jeanty 266 carries and 73 targets. That’s the floor a top-10 pick gets: the team spent the pick, so the team gives him the ball.

The Cardinals are 2–4, in a slightly better spot than those Raiders were. Love was picked three spots higher than Jeanty. If Arizona keeps losing, it has every reason to give its rookie the ball down the stretch and see what it has.

What to offer

Love isn’t free. He went early in fantasy drafts, and his manager drafted him to be a star. What you’re buying is the discount: a manager who hasn’t won many games cares about next week, not December.

• Offer points they can start right now. A receiver or back who’s putting up starter numbers today is worth more to a winless team than a rookie who might be healthy in a month. Good examples to offer: Tee Higgins (15.1 points a game), Bucky Irving (14.3) or Josh Jacobs.
• Go two-for-one. Winless teams have holes everywhere. Two starters can fix two spots in their lineup, and you only need one spot for Love.
• A real example. In one of our own leagues, we sent Quinshon Judkins and Jalen Coker for Love. It’s a two-for-one built for a team that needs wins now: Coker is scoring 17.0 points a game, and Judkins gives them a starting back today. It also sells high on Coker’s schedule. In Weeks 15–17 he faces the Bengals, Steelers and Seahawks, three of the eight defenses that give up the fewest points to receivers.

Tyler Allgeier isn’t the threat

The Cardinals have had every chance to give the job to Tyler Allgeier, and he hasn’t taken it. He has 157 yards on 53 carries, 3.0 yards a carry, and he’s topped 9 PPR points once in six games. When he started in Love’s place against the Rams, he ran 18 times for 38 yards. It was bad enough that Bam Knight got almost as much work that day: 15 carries for 80 yards.

Knight is a fill-in, not a threat: he had three carries in the first five weeks combined. Once the ankle lets him, the backfield is Love’s.

Jeremiyah Love could be a league winner. Just not for the manager who drafted him.

Sources: weekly player stats, draft picks and schedules from nflverse (CC BY 4.0), 2016–2026 regular seasons; RB points allowed and points a game are 2026 PPR through Week 6. Winless-team ownership: Sleeper on X. Snap counts: Athlon Sports via Yahoo. Injury reporting: ProFootballTalk, AP via TSN, Arizona Sports.