The running back position has become less and less valued in the NFL Draft in recent years. However, FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt and NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay don’t want the value of the running back position to skew how good Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love is.
In the most recent episode of “The Joel Klatt Show,” McShay shared that Love is the first running back he’s ever had ranked No. 1 in his big board in his 26 years covering the draft. On top of that, teams in the NFL also have Love ranked as high or nearly as high on their draft big boards, according to McShay.
“I’ve never had a running back No. 1 overall, and this year, it’s going to be the exception,” McShay said. “We’ve seen Saquon Barkley, Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey that one year. We’ve had Ashton Jeanty. Forget my rankings, talking to NFL teams, the lowest I’ve heard they have him is three on their board. So, he’s one of the best three, if not the best player in this draft.”
Klatt also has Love ranked pretty high on his big board, placing him as the second-best player in the 2026 NFL Draft in his recently revealed top 50 draft prospects ranking. Klatt previously said that he holds Love in high regard due to the number of things he does at an elite level, such as his ability to hit a home run when he runs between the tackles and on the outside.
But even in a draft class that’s perceived to be weaker than other ones in recent memory, there’s still some debate over whether Love should be one of the first few players drafted. Klatt, though, thinks that Love’s all-around talent should make him a top-five selection.
“When you’ve got a guy that is not just a running back, and to me, he reminds me of or could potentially become McCaffrey — maybe not McCaffrey, he’s probably like a top-six wide receiver in the league — but certainly a guy who can be a threat out of the backfield, like Jahmyr Gibbs and so on,” Klatt said. “Those are the guys where you think, OK, I’m not just paying him to be a running back. He’s really contributing. I think he could catch 40 passes in a season, and would be just fine. Then, maybe the economics [of drafting a running back with a top-five pick] work out in a particular way up at the top.”
What makes Jeremiyah Love an elite running back prospect?
Love showcased high-end ability as both a runner and a receiver at Notre Dame this past season. He rushed for 1,372 yards on 6.9 yards per carry and 18 touchdowns in 12 games, ranking in the top 10 in the nation in all of those stats. He also had 27 receptions for 280 yards and three touchdowns. That would’ve put Love on pace for roughly 38 receptions, 400 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns over the course of a 17-game season.
Klatt had Love going to the Tennessee Titans with the No. 4 overall pick in his most recent mock draft, believing he’ll be a strong fit with second-year quarterback Cam Ward. McShay also thinks Love would be a strong choice for Tennessee, saying, “Wouldn’t you love to see that?” But he also wonders if he still might fall come the day of the draft.
“What do you want from a running back in order to value him there? Obviously, the running skills, but it’s the instincts, the ability to stop and start, the contact balance, having a sense of the cutback lanes and almost like a sixth sense with the vision,” McShay said. “But I think it’s why we’re all looking and saying maybe he falls to seven and Washington because he is a running back and the economics of it.”
Still, McShay is a strong believer that Love should be one of the first few players taken in the 2026 draft.
“Find me the flaws,” McShay said. “You always worry about running backs and the durability, kind of managing that load, and that will be for the NFL team that drafts him to kind of figure out what’s best for him. But I just think he is everything that you look for.”
