Cardinals first-rounder Jeremiyah Love officially signs rookie deal, gets largest RB guarantee in NFL history

The main reason NFL rookie contracts are so appealing is they represent an opportunity to get a high performer for well below market rate. That’s not exactly what the Arizona Cardinals got with No. 3 overall pick Jeremiyah Love.

Love was essentially guaranteed a four-year, $53 million contract with a fifth-year option the moment the Cardinals called in his name, but he still made history with those numbers. The fully guaranteed deal represents the most guaranteed money ever paid to a running back in NFL history.

The 20-year-old officially signed his deal on Friday.

The previous high watermark was another rookie deal, as Saquon Barkley got $31.8 million guaranteed when he signed with the New York Giants as the second overall pick in 2018. At $13.3 million per year, Love will have the sixth-highest average annual value among all running backs, per OverTheCap.

We could put this another way. Here are three contracts a running back signed this offseason:

• New York Jets star Breece Hall: three years, $45.8 million total, $29 million guaranteed
• Kansas City Chiefs free agent addition Kenneth Walker III: three years, $43 million total, $28.7 million guaranteed
• Arizona Cardinals rookie Jeremiyah Love: four years, $53 million, $53 million guaranteed

The first two men have a combined 6,953 career rushing yards and 58 touchdowns from scrimmage over the past four seasons, with Walker winning Super Bowl MVP with the Seattle Seahawks earlier this year. Love has yet to participate in his first real training camp.

None of this is meant to put Love down as a player. He was a monster at Notre Dame and figures to be the focal point of the Cardinals’ offense next season. It’s just worth noting the Cardinals basically used the third overall pick of the draft to bring in a running back on a contract that already pays him like one of the top runners in the league. Running backs historically struggle to see real money after their rookie deal, so it’s good Love is getting legitimately paid now.