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— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) April 18, 2026
[T]eams should be racing for the opportunity to select Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love.
Of course, Love’s draft ceiling is only so high because of his devalued running back position, but someone Thursday night is going to inherit a game-breaking talent. Love could easily be a top-five pick, and teams generally believe there’s very little chance of him slipping out of the top 10.
“(Love) is really special,” the scout said. “He’s not far off from a Saquon (Barkley) type of impact. He’s going high.
“You can poke holes in a few of the guys (in the top 10), but very little with (Love). Dynamic, explosive, productive, big. Throw the positional value out the window.”
Because of those qualities and the overall talent, teams absolutely believe Love is in play for the Tennessee Titans at No. 4. It helps they’re trying to round out the offense for quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick in 2025.
New York Giants coach John Harbaugh, who holds the No. 5 pick, has a long affinity for premium running backs, so they could also be in play.
After five backs were taken in the top 10 from 2015-18, the league collectively shunned the position in that area until the Atlanta Falcons jumped on Bijan Robinson at No. 8 in 2023. The Raiders drafted Ashton Jeanty at No. 6 in 2025, so a top-10 pick for Love would resemble something of a run.
“If he were coming out last year with Jeanty, that would have been a hell of a debate,” a scout said. “I think (Love) is a hell of a player. He’s one of the top players in this draft, just not a premium position. But you just take him, especially if you need a back.”
Make no mistake, there are credible cases to be made against drafting a running back in the top 10. But Love has made a compelling case of his own, and there’s plenty of belief that he’ll be off the board quickly in the opening round.
You want your best players to be your hardest workers. We talk about having a walk-on mentality, because they’re underappreciated, but they go to work and don’t look for pats on the back.
Jeremiyah was our best player and our most talented player, but he also had that same mentality. It set a precedent for everyone else: If our best player can work this way, it entices me, as a young guy, to mimic what I see.
We always said a cheetah never stretches when it gets up to chase prey. And Jeremiyah is kind of like a cheetah. He got in the habit of finishing long runs, which showed up in games. Your habits become what you do. And what you do in the dark comes to light.
The great example: He had a 94-yard run against Boston College last year. I can see the play vividly in my head.
“That thing is poppin’,” Hall of Fame cornerback Darrell Green said of the new helmet on the “Command Center” podcast live show at Franklin Hall.
“You look at those colors, and you look at that scheme that they had, you automatically knew what it was about,” former Washington running back Brian Mitchell told Commanders host Bryan Colbert Jr.
For former players like Andre Collins, who spent the first five seasons of his career with Washington and helped the franchise win a Super Bowl in 1991, the return of the classic looks helps rekindle the connection they had with the team. Collins understood several of the changes Washington made in recent years, including the rebranding from Redskins to Commanders, but he felt like there was a disconnect that at least partially stemmed from the uniforms. Now that the look is back, that bond has been renewed.
“That just meant too much to this community to go that hard the other way,” Collins said. “I’m so happy that we’re going back to seeing more gold, seeing more burgundy. I love this helmet. It just makes so much sense.”
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) April 18, 2026