How the Cardinals Tried to Keep Their Jeremiyah Love Plan Under Wraps

The Arizona Cardinals typically are strong in keeping secrets within the walls of their facility in Tempe, but as we got closer and closer to their third overall pick, it was hard to ignore the noise surrounding their interest in Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love.

Love, one of the best overall players in the draft, ultimately landed in the desert despite a flurry of smoke screens and mirrors to disguise Arizona's true intentions this whole time — which SI.com Albert Breer says was to take Love from the start.

"For Mike LaFleur and his new staff, the hay had been in the barn on how good Love is for quite some time. In fact, by the time they met him for the first time, before the coaches even got to study him (having been hired a little later in the NFL calendar), there was a strong feeling that he was going to be their best option," Breer reported.

"But GM Monti Ossenfort knew there was work to be done, and some games to be played, to protect the team’s best interests."

Ossenfort's tenure in Arizona has largely been successful in terms of masking outside eyes and ears from what was transpiring. Whether it be injuries, or Jonathan Gannon's dismissal, or Kyler Murray ultimately released and not traded, the Cardinals have kept most of the public and even prominent NFL insiders guessing.

Taking a running back with the third overall pick was met with a large debate on positional value and team building, though the Cardinals indeed viewed Love as a player who can elevate their offense to the next level regardless of his position.

Arizona seemed sold on Love from the very beginning stages of the draft process. The hardest part was keeping their intentions a secret, so much so that Breer reports Arizona opted not to have a Top 30 visit with Love:

"As soon as he walked in for his interview at the combine, they could feel his presence, with a confidence that was unforced, and balanced with humility and a comfort in his own skin," Breer said on Love's interview with Arizona.

"So much so, in fact, that they pivoted to being careful showing any more interest, passing on having him in for a 30 visit, and doing two instead of three Zooms (he had one with Ossenfort, another with RBs coach Matt Merritt and LaFleur decided not to do his)."

Yet the closer we got to the draft, more and more noise surrounded the Cardinals and their potential interest in Love. With top pass rusher David Bailey off the board and no strong trade offers to boast for Arizona, the decision was easy — even if keeping their love for Love wasn't.