Jeremiyah Love opened as the consensus betting favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year after the Arizona Cardinals took the rookie running back third overall. DraftKings had Love as high as +250, while BetMGM listed him at +300 and FanDuel at +320.
That kind of opening line matters because a +300 price implies about a 25% chance to win the award, and Love arrived with a résumé that matched the hype. He was the highest drafted running back since Saquon Barkley went second overall to the New York Giants in 2018, and Barkley remains the last back to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. Quarterbacks and wide receivers have taken the last seven awards, a streak that has pushed runners to the margins even when the market likes them. Barkley still set the rookie benchmark with 2,028 scrimmage yards, including 1,307 rushing yards at five yards per carry, and no other Giant topped 176 yards on the ground that season.
Love’s case is built in part on what he can do without the ball. He caught 45 passes over his last two seasons at Notre Dame, and ’s Ben Solak ranked him second on his candidates list, saying he has the receiving chops to be a dynamic three-down player. Solak also included Love in his frontrunners tier, which is where the betting action appears to be settling as the Cardinals look for a way to turn a premium draft slot into an instant impact.
The context around him is not simple. Arizona’s offense is being driven by a Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew II and Carson Beck camp battle, and Love is likely to share carries with James Conner, Tyler Allgeier and Trey Benson. The Cardinals’ offensive line ranked 29th in adjusted line yards last season, though the team signed guard Isaac Seumalo and hired coach Mike LaFleur, moves that suggest a reset up front and a system still taking shape.
There is also a reason Arizona will be watched closely if the rookie race turns into more than a futures-market story. The Cardinals have three Offensive Rookie of the Year winners in their history: Ottis Anderson in 1979 while playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, Anquan Boldin in 2003 and Kyler Murray in 2019. Love now enters that lineage with the shortest odds of anyone, but the same offense that gives him a path also gives him competition. Beck, Arizona’s third-round pick, was placed by Solak in the longer shots tier rather than the long shots tier, but he was not listed on FanDuel or BetMGM and sat seventh on DraftKings at +1500. The Cardinals brass have not anointed Beck as the starter, and they have not shut the door on him starting early. If Beck does win the Week 1 job, he would have a solid group of pass catchers and a head coach from the Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan tree in LaFleur. Love, by contrast, would be trying to win rookie of the year in a backfield built for committee football, the kind of setup that can make a favorite look shaky before the season even starts.