The Cardinals had one of those drafts that is easy to argue from both sides, which usually means it is either going to age really well or become one of those drafts fans complain about every time a better player pops somewhere else.

On one hand, Jeremiyah Love is awesome. No need to dance around that part. He was one of the best players in the entire draft, maybe the best offensive player in the class, and he gives the Cardinals something they badly needed after a brutal season: an actual identity piece. Not just a good player. Not just a “nice weapon.” A guy who can change the way defenses have to deal with this offense.

On the other hand, he’s still a running back taken No. 3 overall by a team that just went through a full reset, moved on from its franchise quarterback, changed coaches, and still has plenty of holes across the roster. That’s where the skeptical eyes come in, and honestly, they should. You can love the player and still wonder if the Cardinals were the right team to make that kind of swing that high.

Love Was the Headline, Not the Whole Story

The Cardinals are clearly trying to become a different kind of team under Mike LaFleur. This isn’t the Kyler Murray era anymore. It isn’t an offense built around one quarterback having to clean up messes and constantly turn broken plays into something positive.

This feels more like an attempt to build a real offensive ecosystem. A run game you can trust. Play-action that actually scares people. Defined throws. Better protection. More help around the quarterback instead of asking him to do everything himself. That’s why the order of these picks stands out.

Love at No. 3. Chase Bisontis at No. 34. Carson Beck at No. 65.

That wasn’t random. That was Arizona saying, “We need to get more support for whoever's going to be playing quarterback for us.”

And honestly? That part makes sense. The Cardinals averaged just 93.1 rushing yards per game last season, and way too often the offense felt like it was searching for answers by halftime. They had good players. Trey McBride is a stud. Marvin Harrison Jr. still has the talent to become the guy people thought he’d be. Michael Wilson has shown real flashes. There were pieces there.

But it still felt like a pile of talent more than a real machine. Love gives them a real chance to change that.

He Certainly Makes It Easier to Believe In, Though

There are running backs you take because you need carries filled, and then there are backs you take because they can change the ceiling of your whole offense. Love is supposed to be the second kind.

At Notre Dame, he was explosive, efficient, productive, and versatile. He averaged 6.9 yards per carry in back-to-back seasons, scored 17 rushing touchdowns in 2024, followed that with 18 more in 2025, and added real receiving value on top of it. If you’re taking a back that high, that's the production you want to bet on. He can’t just be a first-and-10 handoff guy. He has to be a stress point. A guy defensive coordinators spend the week talking about.

And when you watch him, you see why people are so high on him. My own notes on Love keep coming back to two things: his elusiveness and instincts are on another level. He sees space early, feels leverage naturally, and reacts before defenders do. Some backs need a runway. Love can make something happen in a phone booth. He can shake really good linebackers, slip through traffic, then be at top speed before everyone else realizes he’s gone.

The contact balance is ridiculous too. Clean shots don’t typically bring him down, and he runs with that annoying kind of body control defenders hate. You think you’ve got him squared up, then suddenly you're seeing the back of his jersey as he streaks down the field.

Then there’s the pass-game side of it, which might be what makes him especially dangerous. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said Love could’ve played full-time slot receiver and been good enough there to get drafted. That’s not throwaway coach hype. He’s not just a back who can catch a screen. He’s a back who can be moved around and be a real threat out there.

For a Mike LaFleur system, that’s a pretty fun piece to drop into the middle of the field. Outside zone, toss looks, screens, angle routes, motion, play-action — all of that gets more dangerous when the defense actually has to respect the back.

Honestly, he feels like he might be a slightly evolved version of the Bijan Robinson/Jahmyr Gibbs type mold. That’s saying a lot, and he’s got plenty to prove before he belongs in that conversation, but the skill set is that intriguing. He looks like he could be just as dangerous as a runner and maybe even more flexible as a pass catcher.

The Price Is What Makes It Dicey

This is where the conversation gets tricky. Love can be a great player and the pick can still carry real risk. Both can be true.

Taking a running back at No. 3 is a risky move in 2026. It means the Cardinals passed on premium defensive help and very likely even a trade-back haul for a position most teams have spent years trying not to pay top dollar for.

That doesn’t automatically make it wrong. The league has probably gone a little too far pretending backs don’t matter anymore. Great backs still matter. Explosive players still matter. Points still matter. Nobody watches a defense get run over for 160 yards and says, “Yeah, but positional value.”

Still, the standard is different this high. Love can’t just be good. He can’t just be a Pro Bowler splitting touches. He has to tilt the offense. More importantly, he has to make life easier on the quarterback.

That’s a lot to ask from a running back, but that comes with being picked third overall. They drafted him like a pillar.

Now he has to be one.

Love Was the Sure Thing, Beck Was the Gamble

The Love pick is fascinating, but Carson Beck might be the part that really decides how people talk about this draft two or three years from now.

Because if Beck is just a backup, this draft probably becomes a fun-but-flawed offensive reset. Love might still be great. Bisontis might help the line. The offense might be more watchable. But the Cardinals would still be searching for the most important answer in the building.

If Beck becomes even a reliable starter, though? That changes everything.

He isn’t some random third-round flier who barely played. He started 43 games in college. He played at Georgia. He transferred to Miami. He threw for 3,813 yards and 30 touchdowns last season and helped lead them to the national title game. He’s been in enough big moments that the NFL stage shouldn’t feel foreign to him.

And personally, I never thought the gap between him and Ty Simpson was as big as the draft slots might suggest. Simpson may have gone higher, but Beck was right there in that conversation for me.

The biggest question was always the arm after the UCL surgery. Fair concern. But if you watched the Miami tape, you saw plenty of evidence it was there. And there’s a real chance it only gets better as more time passes. What stands out is how effortless it looks. Even when he loads up and lets it rip, it rarely looks like he’s straining for it. That kind of easy juice is rare.

He also trusts his arm, maybe more than some coaches would prefer. He isn’t scared to test tight windows, and honestly, I like that mentality. Sure, it can bite him. It already has at times. But it’s also a huge reason he’s been so coveted. You don’t find many quarterbacks willing to challenge themselves like that and be capable of actually making the throws.

Now, he’s not clean. He tries to throw out of sacks a little too often, and that can get dangerous fast. The accuracy isn’t always as sharp as you’d like either. There are real rough edges here.

But there’s enough there to take a swing on. Big frame. Toughness. Experience. Natural arm talent. Confidence. And now he gets NFL coaching in a system that should help him. Where does that player look six months from now? That’s a fair question, and maybe the most interesting one in Arizona.

The Quarterback Room Will Help A Lot

Right now, Beck walks into a room with Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew. That sounds like a roadblock at first, but it might actually be the perfect setup.

Brissett can start games. Minshew can keep you afloat. Neither one feels like the long-term answer unless something weird happens. That gives Arizona cover early while still leaving the door open for Beck later.

The Cardinals don’t have to force him onto the field in September, and that’s a good thing. They can let Brissett handle the early stretch, let Beck learn the system, and see where the season goes. But if Arizona is out of the race by late November or December, the conversation changes quickly.

Because at that point, what are you really learning from another month of Brissett or Minshew? Probably not much. With Beck, at least you’re getting answers.

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