Jeremiyah Love, a running back from Notre Dame, is projected to be a top-10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. If selected that high, he will join elite company, including Saquon Barkley and Reggie Bush.
Key points
Jeremiyah Love is a running back from Notre Dame.
He is projected to be a top-10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Love is viewed as one of the safest and most electric prospects.
High draft picks for running backs are rare in the NFL.
He could join elite company like Saquon Barkley and Reggie Bush.
Running backs, across NFL history, have not been one of the more valued positions — both in free agency and in the draft.
Considering that most data will show an average running back can produce well behind a dominant offensive line, most teams invest their largest contracts on quarterbacks, receivers, defensive lineman or offensive lineman. But there are exceptions to that philosophy of not using premiere draft picks on a running back, especially when a special prospect comes around.
In 2026, Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love — simultaneously viewed as one of the most electric and safest players available — is expected to become a top-10 pick, if not a top-5 selection. Should that happen, he'd join an exclusive list full of elite running backs in the 21st century who were drafted with a high slot.
Here's a look at the highest-drafted running backs in the NFL since 2000.
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Here's a look at each of those selections.
Jamal Lewis, 2000, No. 5 overall
The Baltimore Ravens took the first running back in the 2000 NFL Draft, selecting Tennessee's Jamal Lewis.
Lewis would spent seven years as a Raven, contributing to a Super Bowl title in his rookie year — he became the youngest player to play in and win a Super Bowl. He also had some outstanding seasons in the NFL, with 2,066 yards on the ground in 2003, which remains the third-most in a single season, named the Offensive Player of the Year.
In 2012, Lewis was inducted into the Ravens' Ring of Honor. He was also a one-time First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection in 2003, later spending time with the Browns.
There were two top-10 running backs in 2000, with the Arizona Cardinals also selecting Virginia's Thomas Jones at No. 7.
Jones didn't wind up becoming a star in Arizona, but he would have five career 1,000-yard seasons between the Bears and Jets from 2005-09. When he retired, he was among the top-25 rushers in NFL history, with a 2008 Pro Bowl selection and over 10,000 rushing yards in total.
Jones played for the Cardinals, Buccaneers, Bears, Jets and Chiefs from 2000 to 2011.
The Chargers are certainly thrilled with how this selection panned out. LaDainian Tomlinson, coming out of TCU, went No. 5 in the 2001 Draft, then went on to become an MVP and Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Over 11 NFL seasons, including nine with the Chargers, Tomlinson was a five-time Pro Bowl selection, a three-time First-Team All-Pro selection, and a two-time rushing champion. In 2006, he had one of the greatest single seasons by a running back, winning MVP after breaking the record for touchdowns in a single season (31) and rushing for more than 1,800 yards.
In all but one of his nine seasons with the Chargers, Tomlinson topped 1,000 rushing yards. “L.T.” was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017 and is regarded as one of the best running backs ever.
After Alex Smith went No. 1 to the 49ers in 2005, the Miami Dolphins selected a running back, taking Auburn’s Ronnie Brown — who shared carries for the Tigers with another top-five pick that year.
As a rookie, Brown became Miami’s starting back after a Ricky Williams suspension, and by 2006, he was the featured back, rushing for more than 1,000 yards.
However, Brown’s first two NFL seasons were also two of his best. He remained in Miami until 2011, when he signed with the Eagles and played a limited role before later stints with the Chargers and Texans.
Over his NFL career, Brown totaled 5,391 rushing yards and one Pro Bowl selection.
Cedric Benson, 2005, No. 4 overall
There were three top-5 running backs in 2005, which is rather unheard of in the modern era. But at No. 4, the Bears selected Texas' Cedric Benson.
Benson's rookie season didn't go according to plan — he had a contract dispute with Chicago, then fell behind on the depth chart and went down with an injury. It wasn't until 2006 that Benson even had his first NFL touchdown, but he did help contribute to the team's Super Bowl run that season.
While Benson became Chicago's starter in 2007, he finished with 674 yards before his season ended with another injury. He was released by the Bears in 2008 following an alcohol-related arrest.
Benson did go on to find success in Cincinnati. He ran for a career-high 1,251 yards in 2009 for the Bengals, then another 1,111 in 2010 and 1,067 in 2011. Benson, who also dealt with various legal issues off the field, finished his NFL career with the Packers in 2012.
The second Auburn running back to go in the top-5 in 2005 was Cadillac Williams, who had shared playing time with Brown in college. While at Auburn, Williams set the school's record for career rushing touchdowns and helped the team go undefeated in 2004. The Buccaneers took him at No. 5.
Williams' best NFL season was his first — he won Offensive Rookie of the Year after posting 1,178 rushing yards for Tampa Bay. He never reached the 1,000-yard mark again, dealing with injuries over the next few seasons before falling behind on the depth chart, still putting up 832 yards in 2009.
Williams finished his career with one season for the Rams in 2011, owning over 4,000 career rushing yards. He has since coached at Auburn and for the Raiders.
As the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, there was plenty of buzz for Reggie Bush in the 2006 NFL Draft. He lived up to it, going second overall to the Saints.
Bush, however, wasn't quite the megastar running back in the NFL that he was at USC. He wasn't an immediate starter, struggling on the ground but making some impact as a pass-catcher as a rookie. In an up-and-down rookie year, he had 565 rushing yards and six touchdowns.
Injuries played a role in Bush being off the field a bit, but he remained a solid running back — more notably, he was a First-Team All-Pro at punt returner in 2008. He also helped guide New Orleans to a Super Bowl in 2009.
Bush later joined the Dolphins in 2011, where he made his most impact as a rusher since his college days, totaling 1,086 yards in his first season. He also topped 1,000 yards for the Lions in 2013.
Bush finished his career with the 49ers and Bills as a backup, retiring in 2017 with 5,490 rushing yards in total.
Also the most recent running back to win MVP, Adrian Peterson went No. 7 to the Vikings in the 2007 NFL Draft. He set the freshman rushing record with 1,925 yards in 2004 at Oklahoma and finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up.
Success followed Peterson to the NFL — he played 15 seasons, including nine in Minnesota. As a rookie, he set an NFL record for the most rushing yards in a single game (296) and won the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. By 2010, he was the fifth-fastest player ever to reach 5,000 rushing yards.
After a knee injury set him back in 2011, Peterson dominated for 2,097 rushing yards in 2012, coming up just short of the single-season record. He won MVP for the Vikings in 2012.
Peterson was suspended in 2014 for charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child. He also dealt with injuries to finish out his time in Minnesota, then would go on to spend time with the Saints, Cardinals, Commanders, Lions, Titans and Seahawks as a backup. In 2018, Peterson had his last 1,000-yard season for Washington.
He finished his career with four First-Team All-Pro and three Second-Team All-Pro nods, three rushing titles and 14,918 rushing yards in total.
After the Falcons took Matt Ryan at No. 3, the Raiders went with running back Darren McFadden at No. 4 in the 2008 NFL Draft. McFadden had a decorated Arkansas career, a two-time Heisman finalist who was later a College Football Hall of Fame inductee.
McFadden's NFL career, however, wasn't quite the same. He dealt with nagging injuries throughout his career, topping 1,000 rushing yards only twice in 2010 (1,157) for Oakland and again in 2015 (1,089) for the Cowboys. He was never a 16-game starter in the pros, despite making an impact in some other ways.
McFadden retired in 2017 with 5,421 career rushing yards.
At No. 9 in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills took Clemson running back C.J. Spiller, who had been a unanimous All-American.
Spiller had a slow start to his career, mostly contributing on special teams in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, he broke through with 1,244 rushing yards for Buffalo, then was selected to the Pro Bowl, then was also solid in 2013 with 933 rushing yards.
Throughout the rest of his NFL career until 2017, Spiller dealt with injuries and was also more of a special teams contributor. He spent time with the Saints, Seahawks, Jets and Chiefs before his retirement with 3,451 rushing yards in his career.
The Browns took a big swing at No. 3 in the 2012 NFL Draft, taking two-time national champion at Alabama, Trent Richardson.
Richardson had a great rookie season, running for 950 yards and 11 touchdowns — but those would be his peak numbers in the NFL. In September 2013, Richardson was traded to the Colts in exchange for the first-round pick that became Johnny Manziel, with Indianapolis needing a back to account for Vick Ballard's season-ending injury.
Richardson, however, didn't find the same elite production, finishing with just over 500 yards in 2013 and 2014. He wasn't active for the team's playoff run in the 2014 playoffs, including a team suspension for missing walk-throughs, and he was waived in March 2015.
Those would be Richardson's last NFL games, as he was waived by both the Raiders and Ravens over the next two years after signing deals with each squad. He later played in the CFL, AAF and FAM leagues, finishing with 2,032 NFL rushing yards.
It had been a while since a team took a running back in the top 10 by 2016, when the Cowboys bucked the trend by selecting Ohio State star Ezekiel Elliott at No. 4. With the spotlight on him in Dallas, Elliott remained a star.
In his first seven NFL seasons, all with the Cowboys, Elliott was a three-time Pro Bowl selection and a two-time All-Pro selection, leading the league in rushing yards in both 2016 and 2018. Famous for his “Feed Zeke” mentality, he was one of the league’s best backs in the late 2010s, with four 1,000-yard seasons — including a career-high 1,631 yards (third most by a rookie) and 15 touchdowns as a rookie. The only significant time Elliott missed was a six-game suspension in 2017 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, which stemmed from accusations of domestic violence.
He was released by Dallas after rushing for 876 yards in 2022, then had a one-year stint with the Patriots. Elliott returned to the Cowboys in 2024 in a backup role, which was his final NFL season. He finished his career with 9,130 rushing yards.
There were two top-10 running backs in 2017. Leonard Fournette first went at No. 4 to the Jaguars, coming off various school records at LSU as a dominant back in college.
Fournette did find plenty of early-career success in Jacksonville, running for 1,040 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie, then another 1,152 yards in 2019 after dealing with injuries and a one-game suspension for fighting in 2018.
He signed a one-year deal in Tampa Bay for the 2020 season, which resulted in a Super Bowl title alongside Tom Brady despite Fournette not being the regular starter in the backfield behind Ronald Jones II. In Super Bowl LV, Fournette had 89 rushing yards, 46 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Chiefs, becoming the third player in NFL history to score touchdowns in four games in a single postseason.
Fournette was the Buccaneers' starter in 2021, posting 812 yards, and spent one more year in Tampa Bay before his last NFL season with the Bills in 2023, appearing in just two games before his release after the season.
He has not appeared in the NFL since 2023, totaling 4,518 rushing yards in his career.
The Panthers took one of the NFL's most versatile weapons ever in 2017, with Stanford star Christian McCaffrey going at No. 8 overall. In 2015, McCaffrey had been a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, still holding the NCAA record for most all-purpose yards in a season (3,864).
Outside of some injury issues, McCaffrey has become one of the more dynamic running backs in NFL history. By his second season, when he became the full-time starting back in Carolina, McCaffrey posted 1,098 rushing and 867 receiving yards as a dual-threat weapon. In 2019, he then dominated the Panthers' offense, totaling 1,387 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns to go along with 116 receptions for 1,005 receiving yards and four receiving touchdown.
After injuries held him back in 2020 and 2021, he was traded to the 49ers midway through the 2022 season. He has remained a star in San Francisco, winning Offensive Player of the Year in 2023 and appearing in Super Bowl LVIII with the squad.
McCaffrey, to date, has been a three-time First-Team All-Pro and one-time Second-Team All-Pro selection, a four-time Pro Bowler and owns 7,589 career rushing yards.
The last running back to go in the top-5 was Penn State star Saquon Barkley, who followed the Browns' selection of Baker Mayfield at No. 1 by going No. 2 to the Giants in the 2018 NFL Draft. After posting plenty of Penn State records, Barkley remained an elite weapon at the next level.
In New York, Barkley posted 1,307 rushing yards, 721 receiving yards and 15 total touchdowns as a rookie, winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. He topped 1,000 rushing yards again in 2019, then had a torn ACL in 2020 that held him to just two games.
Returning in 2021, Barkley finished with 593 rushing yards in 13 games, but bounced back in 2022 with a Pro Bowl nod after posting 1,312 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Barkley hit free agency after the 2023 season, opting to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles, a Giants division rival. And in his first year as an Eagle, he had one of the greatest single seasons ever, regardless of position.
Philadelphia won the Super Bowl, with Barkley also rushing for 2,005 yards in the regular season to approach the single-season record. He won Offensive Player of the Year, breaking the record for most rushing yards in one season including the playoffs.
Barkley has signed an extension in Philadelphia, now 29 and one of the league's best weapons.
Another active running back who went in the top-10 was the Falcons' Bijan Robinson; after starring at Texas, Robinson went No. 8 in the 2023 NFL Draft, viewed as an elite prospect. That broke a drought of five drafts without a top-10 running back.
Robinson has proved Atlanta right in its selection thus far. Through three NFL seasons, he has one First-Team All-Pro selection, one Second-Team All-Pro selection, two Pro Bowl nods and 3,910 rushing yards in total. In 2025, he had career-highs with 1,478 rushing yards and 820 receiving yards as the engine of the Falcons' offense.
The last running back to go in the top-10 was last year. After finishing as the Heisman Trophy runner-up and leading FBS in rushing yards and touchdowns in 2025, the Raiders made Ashton Jeanty the No. 6 overall pick.
Jeanty had a good-not-great rookie season, rushing for 975 yards and five touchdowns in a Raiders offense that struggled as a unit. However, he's still viewed as one of the best young weapons in the NFL, with a powerful build and a knack for running through defenders.
