No matter how accomplished one is in his college career, playing running back in the NFL is hard. Jeremiyah Love has found that out the hard way; through five weeks of his NFL career, he’s had his ups and downs as the Arizona Cardinals’ feature back, much like fellow highly-touted back Ashton Jeanty did last season.
Love amassed 245 yards over the first five weeks of the season before missing Week 6 with an ankle injury that limited him in Week 5. He hasn’t practiced yet this week, so his status for Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos looks up in the air. In fact, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz, Love is not expected to play.
In Love’s absence, the Cardinals could once again turn to a running back committee of Tyler Allgeier and Bam Knight, as they did in their Week 6 win over the Los Angeles Rams. But which of Allgeier and Knight — if either — is fantasy-viable in Week 7? Let’s dive in.
Results and Usage
Allgeier was the feature back in Week 6, as he took 18 carries to Knight’s 15 and saw the field on eight more snaps, but Knight was far more impactful with his touches. While the Rams held Allgeier to 38 yards on 18 carries, Knight turned his 15 into 80 yards and added an additional two catches for 18 yards. Allgeier has been the second option behind Love all season, earning 53 carries to Love’s 67 and Knight’s 18, but he’s averaged just 3.0 yards per carry, ranking third-to-last among qualified runners. Knight hasn’t qualified, but if he did, he’d trail only Kenneth Walker III.
If ignoring the snap minimum, Pro Football Focus grades Knight as the best running back on the roster, well ahead of both Love and Allgeier. While that’s probably an overreaction, Knight did see plenty of success in a larger role last season, turning 82 carries into 269 yards and four scores last season and finishing as RB38 among 59 qualifiers. He had his fair share of inefficient performances, but given that he was playing behind one of the league’s worst offensive lines with one of its worst offensive ecosystems overall, some of his lackluster production is understandable.
Allgeier was Bijan Robinson’s No. 2 with the Atlanta Falcons last season, taking 143 carries for 514 yards and eight scores, but he ranked ninth-to-last in the league in rushing yards over expectation per attempt. By PFF’s standards, he finished slightly ahead of Knight, ranking 32nd, but he generally has disappointed over the last two campaigns after an extremely promising start to his career.
Future Outlook
Just because Knight has produced more efficiently in his limited opportunities doesn’t mean he’s suddenly usurped Allgeier as the primary backup. Allgeier has operated somewhat as a change-of-pace back, as while a majority of his career snaps have come on either first or second down, the rate at which his carries have come on early downs (87.2%) is lower than Knight’s (92.6%). That suggests that, while Allgeier will maintain more of a role when Love returns, Knight is better-suited to serve as an early-down, bellcow replacement for Love, who’s taken just three third-down carries this season. Love is also more similar in frame and athletic profile to Knight than to Allgeier, who’s more of a power back.
Ball security could limit Knight’s opportunities. While Allgeier has never fumbled in his five-season NFL career, Knight has four fumbles in 188 career carries, including one in the second quarter in Week 6 that ended up going out of bounds. He continued to play after, splitting carries evenly with Allgeier afterwards, but margins are exceptionally thin in the NFL. Knight has been a slightly better pass-blocker than Allgeier this season, but the sample size is so small for both running backs that that factor isn’t necessarily determinative of playing time. Neither back is a great pass-catcher, but Knight has been more effective after the catch in both 2025 and 2026, and his production zones line up more cleanly with quarterback Jacoby Brissett’s than Allgeier.
Knight should still be worth starting against the Broncos. Denver has allowed the seventh-most FPTS per game to running backs, including the third-most rushing yards per game. In fact, the Broncos have given up the second-most rushing yards overall, including rushing yards to positions other than running back, and Brissett has little more than functional mobility. Running the ball through Knight is a much more appealing proposition than throwing on Denver’s secondary, which has been elite even with former Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II out for the last two games. Surtain could return ahead of Week 7, which would make the Broncos’ secondary even more intimidating.
