It is still extremely early in the 2026 draft cycle, with plenty of football left to be played at both the college and NFL levels this winter. But as of right now and over the last few weeks, the most popular player mocked to the Vikings — who will likely pick somewhere in the 7-13 range — is star Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love.
The latest prominent draft expert to send Love to the Vikings is The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, who dropped a new mock this week. In it, he has Love going to Minnesota with the No. 11 pick.
“Like (Caleb) Downs, Love is one of the best players in the draft but positional value will limit his landing spots in the top half of Round 1. Here, that just means the Vikings get value by adding the draft’s most explosive offensive weapon — a versatile back who’d help both the run and pass games.”
Brugler is far from the only draft analyst to project that pairing. CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson made the same pick for the Vikings in a recent mock. So did Jacob Infante at Pro Football Network. And Brugler’s colleague at the Athletic, Nick Baumgardner. And many others. As of right now, there’s no stronger consensus pick in the 2026 first round than Love to the Vikings, according to the NFL Mock Draft Database.
It makes plenty of sense. The Vikings’ offense has been a major letdown this season, largely due to poor quarterback play. But unless the Vikings are just completely bailing on J.J. McCarthy, which seems unlikely, they probably aren’t drafting another QB in the first round. They’ll need a high-floor veteran to come in and compete with McCarthy, not another developmental young player.
Obviously, the Vikings remain set at wide receiver with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, even if they might lose Jalen Nailor this offseason. The offensive line has been injury-prone and disappointing, but it remains strong on paper.
One way to add another element to the Vikings’ offense would be to bring in Love, who might be one of the very best players in next year’s draft, positional value aside. He could be the home run threat at running back the Vikings have never had in the Kevin O’Connell era. Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason have made up a solid backfield, but Jones is on the wrong side of 30 and Mason appears to be more of a good back than a great one.
Love looks like a special running back prospect in the same tier as recent top-12 picks Ashton Jeanty, Bijan Robinson, and Jahmyr Gibbs. Through 12 games this season, Love has run 199 times for 1,372 yards (6.9 YPC) and 18 touchdowns, while adding 280 yards and three scores as a receiver. And the eye test more than matches up with those numbers. He’s a ridiculously explosive back who is a threat to take the ball to the house from anywhere on the field. Love has everything you want in a running back: vision, contact balance, agility, acceleration, and more.
Over the course of the O’Connell era, the Vikings rank 29th out of 32 teams in EPA per rush. They’ve tried all kinds of things to develop some level of efficiency in the run game. The best solution might just be to use a first-round pick on a big-play machine at the running back position, like the Lions did with Gibbs a couple years ago.
It’s not a sure thing, but Notre Dame is expected to make the College Football Playoff this year, which would give Vikings fans at least one additional opportunity to watch Love play.
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