And?
I don’t think anyone advocating for RB Love or any of the other top prospects believes we are getting some magical transformation with one player. Yet, that does happen on rare occasions, here's why it may happen with Love:
Bad teams have to add to their roster in steps anticipating at some point it is going to come together and move the needle. That’s why roster construction for a bad team is called a rebuild. Teams that have accumulated talent start looking for that missing piece that moves them into the next level. When that happens, you get a ‘surprise’ team going from a terrible record to being in the playoffs in a single year. (Consider the addition of Sam Darnold to Seattle last year.)
The mystery for the Cards is how to evaluate our roster going into 2026. Are we a bad team still fumbling around in FA and the draft to rebuild the roster? Or, are we a team with a lot of core pieces in place and need the chemistry of adding a player or two that will click and push us up the ‘W’ column. The answer to that either-or question is confounded by the depressing number of injuries the Cards experienced last season. Recall we went from 4 wins to 8 wins and all involved looked at the Cards to take that next step in 2025 and make the playoffs. Instead, all hopes crashed in the MASH unit.
2025 needs to be known as the IR Season. It destroyed any hope for the playoffs. If all the injured players return, our roster has the talent to take the next step. That is on both sides of the ball. That’s the difference between the Raiders and Cards even with the same bad record. I think that applies even as we have a backup QB in JB as our anticipated starter.
Drop a talented RB Love into our O with the other skilled players and a competent QB and a rebuilt OL and we can take the next step. Drop a talented RB Jeanty into the Raiders with a washed Geno Smith and bad OL and the team doesn’t take the next step.
Here’s the Card’s Draft history—look at the players on our roster from the last few drafts and appreciate we are on the cusp and can make the push with one/two key players (and some luck with the injuries)