The Arizona Cardinals selected Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love with the third overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23 in Pittsburgh, and the contract details that followed made history at the position.
Love is set to sign a four-year fully guaranteed rookie deal worth $50.5 million, the most fully guaranteed money ever given to a running back in the history of the NFL.
The previous record belonged to Saquon Barkley, who received $36 million in guaranteed money when the New York Giants took him No. 2 overall in 2018.
The year before Love’s selection, the Las Vegas Raiders gave Ashton Jeanty $35.9 million guaranteed when they took him No. 6 in 2025. Love’s deal clears both marks by a significant margin.
His signing bonus alone, $33.2 million, is larger than the entire guaranteed portion of most running back contracts in NFL history.
“I have the opportunity to really set a new standard for running backs,” Love said after being selected. He was not wrong.
Who Is Jeremiyah Love?
Jeremiyah Darnell Love was born on May 31, 2005 in St. Louis, Missouri, in the Walnut Park neighborhood on the city’s north side.
His mother L’Tonya served as a sergeant with the St. Louis Police Department.
His father Jason is an Army veteran who coached Jeremiyah in youth football, the first person to put the ball in his hands and teach him what to do with it.
He attended Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis, where he was a three-sport athlete. Football, basketball, and track and field.
In track, he won a Missouri Class 5 state championship in the 100-meter dash as a sophomore with a time of 10.76 seconds. That is not a coincidence in terms of how he plays football, the speed is real, certified at the state level before he ever ran a 40 for an NFL scout.
He led Christian Brothers to back-to-back Class 6 state championships in football in his junior and senior years, won Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior, and chose Notre Dame over Texas A&M, Michigan, and a list of other programs that wanted him.
He was 17 years old when he enrolled at Notre Dame. He is 20 years old as he enters the NFL.
What Did Love Accomplish At Notre Dame?
Love arrived at Notre Dame in 2023 as a four-star recruit and spent his freshman year learning behind Audric Estimé, 71 carries, 385 yards, one touchdown in a complementary role.
In 2024 he took over the backfield and did not let go. He started all 16 games, rushed for 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns, and added 28 receptions.
He set a Notre Dame record with rushing touchdowns in 13 consecutive games.
In the College Football Playoff, he broke off a 98-yard touchdown run against Indiana, at the time, he became the first Notre Dame player ever to record two 90-yard rushing touchdowns in a career. There was not yet a second one; he would add that later.
His junior season in 2025 was the one that ended all debate. Love started all 12 games, carried 199 times for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns, caught 27 passes for 280 yards and three more scores, and totaled 1,652 yards from scrimmage.
His 21 total touchdowns broke Jerome Bettis’s Notre Dame program record. His 228-yard performance against USC was the most rushing yards by a Notre Dame player in Notre Dame Stadium across that venue’s 513-game history.
Against Boston College he scored a 94-yard touchdown, the second 90-yard rushing TD of his career, making him the only Notre Dame player ever to do it twice.
He averaged 6.9 yards per carry and 114.3 yards per game, sixth nationally.
He finished third in Heisman Trophy voting, won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back, the first Notre Dame player ever to win it, and earned unanimous All-American honors.
Notre Dame went 10-2 and was controversially excluded from the College Football Playoff. Love left with 2,882 career rushing yards, seventh in Notre Dame program history, 42 total touchdowns, and a 4.36-second 40-yard dash time that confirmed what anyone who watched him play already knew.
Why His Draft Position Is Historic
Running backs have been systematically devalued in the NFL Draft for the better part of a decade.
The prevailing theory among front offices has been that running backs are replaceable, that their production is more a function of the offensive line than individual talent, and that paying a running back a first-round pick, let alone a top-five pick, represents poor asset allocation.
The position has been left to fall in drafts while quarterbacks, edge rushers, and offensive tackles absorbed the premium selections.
Love’s selection at No. 3 overall challenges that framework directly. He is the first running back taken in the top five of the draft since Barkley went No. 2 in 2018.
He is tied with Trent Richardson, No. 3 to the Cleveland Browns in 2012, for the fourth-earliest running back selection of the entire 21st century.
Only three running backs have gone higher in the modern era. Barkley, Reggie Bush (No. 2, New Orleans Saints, 2006), and Ronnie Brown (No. 2, Miami Dolphins, 2005).
It is also the second consecutive year a running back has been taken in the top ten. Jeanty went No. 6 to the Raiders in 2025. Love went No. 3 to the Cardinals in 2026.
Whether this represents a genuine reassessment of the position’s value or simply two exceptional talents appearing at the same time is a question the league will be answering over the next several years.
Why The Cardinals Took Him
Arizona finished second-to-last in the NFL in rushing yards per game last season, 93.1 yards per game, ahead of only the Las Vegas Raiders, who were integrating their own rookie running back.
The Cardinals finished with nine rushing touchdowns, also second-to-last. New head coach Mike LaFleur and GM Monti Ossenfort were not subtle about the need.
On draft night, there was a brief pause before the Cardinals’ pick was announced that had observers wondering whether a trade was in progress. Ossenfort explained afterward.
He had the wrong phone number for Love. The right one was located, the call was made, and Love was told he was a Cardinal. “There was no delay,” LaFleur said, the point being that the decision itself was never in question.
Love’s combination of home run speed, contact balance, and receiving ability fits what the Cardinals need.
He is not a back who comes off the field in third-down situations, he caught 55 passes over his final two seasons at Notre Dame. He has scored from 94 yards and 98 yards in college games.
The Cardinals’ offensive line will need to develop around him, but the player they are building around is one of the most complete running backs to come out of college football in years.
The Record Contract In Context
The $50.5 million fully guaranteed deal is the product of where Love was drafted, not a reflection of any special negotiation on the running back market.
Rookie contracts in the NFL are slotted by draft position, the No. 3 overall pick gets a No. 3 overall pick contract.
What makes Love’s contract historically significant for running backs is simply that no running back has ever been drafted this high in the current CBA era, which sets guaranteed money at a percentage of the slot.
Barkley’s 2018 contract was worth $41.2 million total when he signed it. Love’s deal is worth $50.5 million, a $9 million increase that reflects eight years of salary cap growth since Barkley’s rookie deal.
The guarantee gap is even wider. Love’s $50.5 million fully guaranteed dwarfs Barkley’s $36 million guaranteed by $14.5 million.
As a point of comparison, Barkley’s current contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, signed after the Super Bowl, is a two-year, $41.2 million extension that reflects his market value as an established star in his prime.
Love’s rookie deal, before he has taken a single NFL carry, is already in the same neighborhood.
He is 20 years old. He broke Jerome Bettis’s record at Notre Dame. He has a 4.36 forty. The Cardinals had the wrong number on draft night and found the right one in time to make the call.
