The Arizona Cardinals have handed rookie running back Jeremiyah Love a contract unlike any previously seen at the position, agreeing a fully guaranteed four-year deal worth roughly $53m that immediately resets expectations for elite NFL running backs entering the league.

Love, selected third overall out of Notre Dame last month, becomes the first running back in NFL history to receive a fully guaranteed contract exceeding $50m as a rookie, eclipsing previous benchmarks set for top-five selections at a position long viewed as financially disposable across much of the league.

The agreement also underlines just how aggressively Arizona believes Love can accelerate its rebuild around a questionable quarterback situation. While most franchises have increasingly resisted investing premium draft capital or major guarantees in running backs, the Cardinals moved decisively in the opposite direction by making Love the highest-drafted player at the position since Saquon Barkley went second overall in 2018, despite already having James Conner and the recently-acquired Tyler Allgeier on the books.

“It’s a good room, there’s no question,” GM Monte Ossenfort commented. “As with anything else, the competition will take care of itself, [but] any way you can generate explosives, it’s a good thing for the offense.”

Love arrives in Arizona following a standout final collegiate season in South Bend, rushing for 1,428 yards and 18 touchdowns while adding another 312 receiving yards despite Notre Dame controversially missing a spot in the College Football Playoff. His combination of acceleration, balance and receiving ability had already made him one of the most heavily scrutinised prospects in the 2026 draft cycle, but the scale of the contract still reverberated across league circles once terms emerged.

The 21-year-old, however, insisted during rookie minicamp that the deal changes little about his mindset.

“I still haven’t done anything,” Love told reporters after officially signing with the club. “I’m ready to earn what I have been given. I’m still myself at the end of the day. I still have the same work ethic and it’s going to get better.”

That grounded tone reportedly impressed Cardinals staff throughout the pre-draft process and early offseason programme, particularly given the spotlight attached both to his draft slot and the wider debate surrounding positional value in the modern NFL.

Arizona’s decision arrives at a fascinating moment for the broader running back market, where veterans including Christian McCaffrey, Barkley and Bijan Robinson have helped restore some prestige to the position over the past two seasons, yet many front offices still remain reluctant to commit long-term guarantees to ball carriers approaching second contracts.

The Cardinals, instead, have chosen to absorb that financial risk immediately, betting that Love can become the offensive centrepiece of a franchise still searching for stability after consecutive losing seasons — a situation not helped by the departure of Kyler Murray in free agency.

With Murray now in Minnesota, Arizona enters 2026 with veteran stopgaps Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew competing alongside rookie Carson Beck for the QB1 role, leaving the Cardinals without a proven long-term answer under center and placing even greater emphasis on establishing a reliable offensive foundation around the ground game.

“They picked a running back as the third pick in the NFL Draft, which hasn’t happened for a long time,” Love concluded. “So, with great power comes great responsibility — or, in this instance, with a lot of money comes a lot of trust and a lot of responsibility. I’m gonna make sure I give them return on their investment.”