NFL draft 2026: Why Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love should be top-10 pick

“We saw more weaponry,” Campbell said. “A lot of versatility, things you can do and so that’s why it was we felt like Gibbs, man, this guy’s going to explode. Like, yes he’s a runner. He can run all schemes. He can run inside, outside, pin and pull, the perimeters. But he’s also, he can be lethal out of the backfield.”

Gibbs has only started to scratch the surface of his massive potential.

He topped 1,200 yards rushing and led the Lions in that stat each of the past two seasons. He tied for 21st in the NFL with 77 catches in 2025. He broke Barry Sanders’ NFL record for most touchdowns in a player’s first three years with 48.

And soon, he, Robinson and Jeanty will have company as the only running backs this decade to go in the top 15 of a draft.

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is expected to join that exclusive group next week when some NFL team – with the Tennessee Titans, New York Giants or Washington Commanders potential landing spots – makes him a top-10 pick.

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (4) runs with the ball during the first half of a NCAA football game against Navy at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in South Bend.

Love is widely considered the best offensive talent in the draft after rushing for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns last season and catching 27 passes for another 280 yards and three scores.

Analysts Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN and Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network have Love as the No. 2 overall prospect in the draft and Giants general manager Joe Schoen sang Love’s praises in his pre-draft news conference this week.

“He’s an offensive weapon,” Schoen said via Pro Football Talk. “He’s not just a running back.”

NFL teams have devalued running backs for years, both because of the wear and tear the position takes on the body and the interchangeable nature of the position.

Most teams employ some type of backfield by committee, including both of this year’s Super Bowl contestants, the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. And investing in the position high in the draft flies in the face of analytics.

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) hands the ball to running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) against Washington Commanders during the first half at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. on Sunday, November 9, 2025.

Love, though, earns high marks from scouts because of his dual-threat ability. He’s an explosive runner who averaged 6.7 yards per carry for his career and a high-end receiver who comes with the benefit of having a bigger frame (6 feet, 212 pounds) – not to mention a new-car smell, given the way he was used at Notre Dame.

Love amassed just 433 carries in college while splitting work the past two years with Jadarian Price, the draft’s No. 2 running back prospect. For comparison, Jeanty had 750 carries in three college seasons at Boise State; Gibbs had 383 in his career at Georgia Tech and Alabama.

“He’s a complete back,” Jeremiah said. “He can do everything. I think his value, what he can do in the passing game is what elevates him and puts him in the neighborhood of some of those guys. I do not have him quite at the level of Saquon Barkley coming out, but he’s in the conversation with Bijan Robinson for me. He’s in the conversation. I have a higher grade on him then I had on Jahmyr Gibbs and we know what he’s become.”

The Lions were coming off a 9-8 season when they took Gibbs (after trading down from a pick they received from the Los Angeles Rams in the Matthew Stafford trade) to round out what already was shaping up to be an explosive offense.

Teams at the top of this year’s draft have more to consider in their calculus of whether to take Love with a high pick.

Oct 4, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) runs the ball against the Boise State Broncos at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

While it’s generally considered poor roster building for bad teams to waste a good running back’s best years while building towards contention, the Titans, Giants, Commanders and New Orleans Saints all have young quarterbacks who could benefit greatly from Love’s presence.

Kiper has argued for years against spending a high pick on a running back, but Love is the type of player for whom he'd make an exception.

“Only because he’s so versatile," Kiper said. "If he were just a running back you wouldn’t be saying that. Because he’s so versatile and you can do so many things creatively with him, that’s why Jeremiyah Love is worthy of being the fourth pick overall and he’s certainly second-best player on my board, a lot of people think he’s the best player in this draft. If you’re picking fourth, you don’t want to get the fifth, sixth best player, you want to get a guy inside of your top four and Love certainly is.”

NFL draft preview: Running backs

On the Lions roster: Jahmyr Gibbs, Isiah Pacheco, Sione Vaki, Jacob Saylors, Jabari Small, Kyle Robichauux.

Recent Lions draft picks at RB: 2025 – None. 2024 – Vaki (Round 4). 2023-Gibbs (Round 1). 2022 – None. 2021 –Jermar Jefferson (Round 7).

Dave Birkett’s top 3 RB prospects: 1. Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame; 2. Jadarian Price, Notre Dame; 3. Demond Claiborne, Wake Forest.

Michigan running back Jordan Marshall runs for a touchdown behind the blocking of Max Bredeson (44) against Northwestern during the first half at Wrigley Field on Nov. 15, 2025 in Chicago.

Other players with Michigan ties: Max Bredeson, Michigan; Jake Tafelski, Notre Dame (Dearborn); Tavierre Dunlap, Eastern Michigan.

Day 3 sleeper who could interest Lions: Roman Hemby, Indiana.

Draft scoop: Love is the best offensive playmaker in this draft regardless of position, but the depth of this year’s running back class leaves a lot to be desired. Price is the only other back with a chance to crack the top 50, though there are bound to be some productive NFL rushers that emerge on Day 3 of the draft or in free agency. I like Claiborne as the draft’s No. 3 back because of his speed (4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash) and explosiveness, but any of Arkansas’ Mike Washington, Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson and the Penn State duo of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen could be the third back off the board.

The Lions don’t need to draft a back with Pacheco ticketed for backup carries behind Gibbs and Vaki guaranteed a special-teams role, and they might be likely to pass on the position given the other three backs on their roster entered the league as undrafted free agents. Of the local prospects, Bredeson has the best chance to get drafted late on Day 3 as a fullback/H-back. Hemby isn’t a local, but he was a contact-seeker at Indiana who would add physicality to any backfield.

Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him atdbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him onBluesky,XandInstagramat @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NFL draft 2026: How high is too high for Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love?