Is the best player in the 2026 NFL Draft a running back?
Even with the resurgence of the running game in recent years, thanks in large part to the impact of college-inspired spread offenses on NFL defenses, individual running backs are still largely seen as interchangeable.
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, however, looks to be the first running back drafted in the Top 5 since the New York Giants drafted Saquon Barkley 2nd overall in 2018. And in a twist of fate, while the selection Barkley is now widely considered a mistake by the Giants, Love is now widely being linked to the Giants. He is widely being considered a possible target of the Giants at 5th overall — If, that is, he even falls that far.
Can he live up to the hype?
Prospect: Jeremiyah Love (4)
Games Watched: vs. Miami (2025), vs. Texas A&M (2025), vs. USC (2025), vs. Arkansas (2025)
- Quickness
- Agility
- Explosiveness
- Speed
- Vision
- Contact balance
- Pass catching
Jeremiyah Love is an extremely athletic and skilled running back prospect. He has legitimately rare speed, explosiveness, quickness, agility, contact balance, and vision.
Love appears prescient at times when anticipating defenders at the first, second, and third levels and has an instinctive feel for manipulating his tempo and pathing to manipulate defenders at all three levels. He has an excellent feel for the flow of the play, understanding how to set up his blockers before exploding through the hole. He also has excellent cut-back ability and uses his vision to anticipate cut-back lanes or identify quickly-closing holes.
He has the ability to run between the tackles thanks to his explosiveness and contact balance, as well as plenty of speed to win the edge in off-tackle runs. Love is very good at making small adjustments to his path and posture to turn would-be tackles into glancing blows. His contact balance is good enough to allow him to survive contact around the line of scrimmage as well as regain his footing if he takes contact on the move.
Nobody will confuse Love with a smashmouth power back, however he does a good job of running behind his pads when the game calls for physicality. He’s able to consistently churn out yards after contact and fall forward to get every inch available. He may not push many piles, however he’s able to get more dirty yards than expected for his frame and athletic profile.
Love is an explosive athlete and always a threat to turn a flash of daylight into a big play, which also makes him a very dangerous receiving threat. Love wasn’t asked to run a particularly varied route tree in the tape viewed, however he was flexed out to the slot or wide receiver positions on occasion and executed well-enough from those alignments.
- Mass
- Play strength
- Pass protection
There are very few weaknesses in Love’s game, and he’s the type of prospect where calling them out almost feels like nitpicking. However, an honest look should include those issues in his profile.
Most notably, Love is not a great pass protector at this point in his development. He has a tendency to get blown up in pass protection and can at times appear either hesitant to take on defenders or unsure of his responsibility. Even when he does step up to take on defenders, he doesn’t typically do a great job of sustaining his blocks.
There’s also a slight tendency for Love to round off his routes, which could make it easier for NFL caliber defenders to stay with him in space.
Finally, Love has merely average mass at 212 pounds and he expressed a desire to play lighter at the NFL Scouting Combine in order to be even more dynamic. There’s certainly an upside to that, however Love does have a tendency to struggle when defenders key on the run. He doesn’t quite have the mass and strength to win 1-on-1 when he isn’t able to use his athleticism to make defenders miss in a phone booth.
(Love is the Notre Dame running back wearing number 4.)
Jeremiyah Love projects as a starting running back with scheme versatility and Pro Bowl upside at the NFL level.
Love is an electric athlete with fantastic vision and contact balance to put his athleticism to use. He isn’t a completely clean prospect and there are some slight limitations in his profile as well as things he can improve upon. However, he also has the ability to be a dynamic weapon in most NFL offenses.
He has the potential to be a “Christian McCaffrey” like threat in the right situation, at least as long as the rest of the offense can keep the opposing defense from keying on him
Does he fit the Giants? Yes
Final Word: A high first round pick.
