TEMPE – Arizona Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur expressed cautious optimism that rookie running back Jeremiyah Love will be able to play Sunday when the Cardinals visit the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium in both teams’ season opener.

“Yeah, I feel good,” LaFleur said Monday when asked about Love’s prospects, noting that Love “was out there moving around” during Monday’s jog-through. LaFleur said the Cardinals will have a better idea about Love and other injured players after Wednesday’s workout.

Love, the Cardinals first-round draft pick, suffered an ankle sprain against the Las Vegas Raiders during the Cardinals’ second preseason game and did not play again in the preseason. 

LaFleur will make his NFL head coaching debut against the Chargers and Love is expected to be a big piece of LaFleur’s offense. LaFleur was hired on Feb. 1, coming over from the Cardinals’ division rival, the Los Angeles Rams, with whom he spent three seasons as offensive coordinator. He led the Rams to a league-best 30.5 points per game last season when quarterback Matthew Stafford won the NFL MVP award. 

LaFleur hopes to replicate that success in his first stint as an NFL head coach with a Cardinals team that finished 3-14 last season under coach Jonathan Gannon.

Gannon was fired after going 15-36 in his three seasons with the club. 

The Cardinals selected Love out of Notre Dame with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, making him the first running back taken among the top three overall picks since the Giants picked Penn State’s Saquon Barkley No. 2 overall in 2018.

LaFleur said Love, who is expected to bring a game-breaking threat to the Cardinals running and passing attacks, is “progressing” from the ankle injury. 

Meanwhile, LaFleur praised second-year cornerback Will Johnson, who has been out with what has only been described as a lower-body injury. His status for Sunday is also unknown.   

“When you’ve got a corner that you feel confident in first, second, third down, it can really change the game,” LaFleur said.

“He’s got a lot of good strengths, but his greatest is up here,” LaFleur continued, pointing to his head. “He’s a smart, smart football player.”

LaFleur also noted that Stafford, his Rams quarterback, did not like playing against Johnson because of Johnson’s unpredictability. He recalled one play that stood out from a matchup last season when he schemed a play to fool Johnson. 

It didn’t.

“(I) remember when Puka (Nacua) ran that hitch and did that little whirly, and Matthew kind of stepped up,” LaFleur said. “Go back to that last game at SoFi, and you’ll see it. We were trying something on Will. It’s like, ‘Wow we were so far off on that,’ because you just don’t know. Those guys who are just (on) a different level upstairs, they instinctively kind of feel things.”

With training camp and preseason wrapping up, LaFleur also announced the team’s captains, getting one final formality out of the way.

The Cardinals selected quarterback Jacoby Brissett and center Hjalte Froholdt as offensive captains, long snapper Casey Kreiter as special teams captain, and safety Budda Baker and linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. as their defensive captains.

Brissett is a 10-year veteran and will be the team’s starting quarterback after coming to terms in July on a one-year, reworked contract after missing voluntary workouts and organized team activities (OTAs) in the spring.

The Cardinals also drafted Miami Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck in the third round, giving the team another option to replace Kyler Murray, who signed with the Vikings. 

While the Cardinals picked their five captains, LaFleur said he expects every player to have a voice. 

“Whether you’re a captain or not a captain, you just be who you are within your own personality,” LaFleur said. “Just because it’s just those five doesn’t mean that there weren’t other guys in the running, and those guys are going to have a voice, too; and some of it is going to be through the silent tape, if that makes sense, because that’s about as important as anything – not what you say but what you’re doing.”

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.