Fantasy Football Injury Impact: How Will Jeremiyah Love And Tyler Allgeier Split Touches In Week 1?

An update on Jeremiyah Love's ankle injury and how it could impact Week 1 of the fantasy football season.

Arizona Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love (4) gets set in the backfield during the game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Brytus-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

One of the fantasy football stars we have been monitoring closely leading up to Week 1 because of an injury is Arizona Cardinals star rookie running back Jeremiyah Love. Love is viewed as a legitimate generational talent after being selected third overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, but he has been dealing with a high-ankle sprain he suffered in the preseason.

Since suffering the injury, one of the Cardinals' big free-agent signings, running back Tyler Allgeier, has been listed as the RB1 on the team's unofficial depth chart. That leaves a lot of questions for fantasy owners heading into Week 1.

The first and most important question has already been answered. Yes, Love is expected to suit up and be active for Week 1. At the very least, he is expected to play and make his NFL debut on Sunday.

Per a source, "the expectation is that Jeremiyah Love (ankle) will play" Week 1 against the Chargers.

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However, it is unclear how snaps and touches will be distributed. After seeing what happened with Christian McCaffrey and Kaelon Black last night on Thursday Night Football, we don't want to just assume or take anything for granted.

Love's owner might not want to hear this, but this could be close to a 50/50 split in Week 1. Because Love is the more dynamic back, he does bring more upside, and we also expect him to handle the vast majority of the passing-down work. In college, he proved that he can be a weapon out of the backfield when called upon.

With that being said, Allgeier is going to be a thorn in his side all season. Allgeier excels specifically on the goal line, and we expect him to handle his fair share of early-down carries this week between the tackles and dominate the short-yardage and goal-line work. This is not a split that anyone wants to see.

In 2025, Allgeier carried the ball 143 times and scored a whopping eight touchdowns, and he did that while on the same team with Bijan Robinson, who many consider to be the best running back in the NFL. Robinson is also a very capable goal-line option in his own right.

It's going to be tough for a rookie like Love to wrestle away the goal-line job, especially in Week 1 after he has been sidelined for weeks with an ankle injury. Look for this to be a frustrating split for fantasy owners this week.

Over the course of the season, that's another story. We do expect Love to eventually take over this backfield and handle the vast majority of touches. It might just take some time for him to establish himself as a legitimate fantasy football superstar, but his time is definitely coming.

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