Before the Arizona Cardinals made former Notre Dame star Jeremiyah Love the highest-drafted running back since Saquon Barkley went No. 2 overall to the New York Giants in 2018, the Cardinals took their time while on the eight-minute clock with the third pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Leading up to the first round of the event in Pittsburgh, there was speculation that Arizona might trade down in order to collect assets and potentially address a need such as offensive tackle a few picks later.
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But by the time Thursday rolled around, the Cardinals weren’t mulling a move like that. So why did it take them so long to make their pick?
““If you want me to tell you the honest-to-God truth, we had the wrong phone number,” Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort explained, via PHNX Sports.
“The phone number that we were given was the wrong one. That was a little bit of the delay. We got that straightened out, and we called Jeremiyah, and we got a hold of him. That’s what the delay was.”
First-year Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur chimed in, voicing his confidence in the pick: “There was no delay.”
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The assembled media laughed, and Ossenfort jokingly agreed before briefly snapping back to his amusing clarification.
“Technical difficulties,” he said.
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Ossenfort, now in his fourth year as Arizona’s GM, said there were “very minimal” and “some surface-level” conversations about trading out of the No. 3 spot.
“But nothing that came anywhere close to getting us to move off the pick,” he said.
Ossenfort said the Cardinals’ front office came to a “pretty solid conclusion” about what they were doing with the pick at the start of the week.
Love eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark and totaled at least 19 touchdowns from scrimmage each of the past two seasons at Notre Dame, which he helped reach the national title game during the 2024 campaign.
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An all-purpose back, Love is highly regarded for his dynamism. He’ll join a now-crowded Cardinals running back room that also consists of James Conner, Trey Benson and Tyler Allgeier, whom Arizona signed in free agency this offseason.
The Cardinals’ selection of Love sparked a debate about positional value and, more specifically, if there’s really justification for a team taking a running back that high in the draft, especially one like Arizona that’s coming off a 3-14 season with several roster needs.
But Ossenfort stressed Thursday night after drafting Love that, when the Cardinals are picking that high, “the goal is to add an impact player.”
“There were certainly other players that we talked about. We talked about the position, understand all that,” he said. “In the end, we felt we added the guy that could impact our team the most. Just really excited about the versatility that he brings to the offense.”
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