{"id":857841,"date":"2026-04-07T00:20:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857841\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T00:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:20:23","slug":"cincinnati-bengals-hosting-running-back-prospect-ahead-of-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857841\/","title":{"rendered":"Cincinnati Bengals Hosting Running Back Prospect Ahead of NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1777179552.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Zac Taylor Cincinnati Bengals\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The Cincinnati Bengals are set to host Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love for a visit ahead of the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Coming out of <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/college-football\/notre-dame-fighting-irish\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Notre Dame<\/a>, running back prospect Jeremiyah Love is considered one of the best overall prospects in this year\u2019s <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/\" title=\"NFL\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"217083\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> Draft class and the top running back prospect. Now, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RapSheet\/status\/2041201480246407593\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">report<\/a> from Ian Rapoport, he\u2019ll be taking a visit with the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/cincinnati-bengals\/\" title=\"Cincinnati Bengals\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"217081\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Love has previously taken visits with the Tennessee Titans and the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/new-york-giants\/\" title=\"New York Giants\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"217080\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Giants<\/a>. Both of those teams are picking well ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals, who have the 10th overall pick. That would indicate that if everything goes well and the Bengals want to select Love, they\u2019d likely need to trade up in the draft to do so.<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, the Bengals\u2019 leading rusher was <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/chase-brown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Chase Brown<\/a>, who finished the season with 1,019 yards and 6 touchdowns. Behind him were <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/samaje-perine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Samaje Perine<\/a>, who had 382 yards and 3 touchdowns, and <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/tahj-brooks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Tahj Brooks<\/a>, who had 45 yards. As a team, they finished 29th in total rushing. So, there\u2019s certainly room to improve there.<\/p>\n<p>What to Know About Jeremiyah Love<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5886487\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5886487\" data-lazy-load=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2190889849.jpg\" alt=\"Jeremiyah Love Notre Dame\" width=\"782\" height=\"441\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5886487\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">GettyNotre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love<\/p>\n<p>A Missouri native, Jeremiyah Love played his high school football at Christian Brothers in St. Louis. There, he became a four-star recruit in the Class of 2023. At the time, he became a star in track, as well as in football, even becoming the Missouri state champion in the 100-meter dash as a sophomore.<\/p>\n<p>Love would ultimately choose Notre Dame over numerous major offers, including <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/college-football\/alabama-crimson-tide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Alabama<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/college-football\/michigan-wolverines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Michigan<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/college-football\/texas-am-aggies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Texas A&amp;M<\/a>. There, he would hit the ground running as a true freshman in 2023, playing in 13 games. However, it would be his sophomore season when Love broke out as one of the best running backs in all of college football.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Love played in 16 games for Notre Dame. He would put up 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns in that time, rushing for 6.9 yards per carry. Love also caught 28 passes for 237 yards and another 2 touchdowns. That included several highlight reel runs in the College Football Playoff, like his 98-yard touchdown against Indiana, and his one-yard touchdown, where he ran through a total of five <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/college-football\/penn-state-nittany-lions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Penn State<\/a> defenders for a touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>Repeating that success seemed almost impossible in 2025. Love was able to do just that, though. In 12 games, he had 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns. That was on 6.9 yards per carry. He also had 27 receptions for 280 yards and another 3 touchdowns. By the end of the season, he was a unanimous All-American and the Doak Walker winner.<\/p>\n<p>Love went on to run a 4.36 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. That performance ended any and all doubt that he was the top prospect at running back in this NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Where is Jeremiyah Love Expected to be Drafted?<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5886475\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5886475\" data-lazy-load=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2244545896.jpg\" alt=\"Jeremiyah Love Notre Dame\" width=\"782\" height=\"441\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5886475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">GettyNotre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love<\/p>\n<p>There are very few players thought of as highly as Jeremiyah Love. ESPN\u2019s Mel Kiper Jr. has him ranked second overall on his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/46573669\/2026-nfl-draft-rankings-mel-kiper-big-board-top-prospects-players-positions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">latest Big Board<\/a>. However, the running back position is often undervalued in the NFL Draft. So, it\u2019s fair to wonder where Love is going to be selected.<\/p>\n<p>Recent mock drafts should give us some insight. Starting with ESPN, which recently put out a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/48357214\/2026-nfl-mock-draft-three-rounds-kiper-miller-reid-yates-predictions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">compilation mock draft<\/a> from some of its top analysts, it\u2019s easy to see Love is going to go high in the draft. That group projected him to go fifth overall to the Giants. It\u2019s worth pointing out that in that same mock draft, the Bengals are set to take Mansoor Delane, a cornerback, in the first round. The Bengals are not projected to take a running back in the first three rounds there.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/five-round-2026-nfl-mock-draft-four-trades-two-qbs-send-jolt-through-round-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">the NFL<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7172035\/2026\/04\/06\/nfl-mock-draft-2026-mendoza-raiders-three-rounds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">The Athletic<\/a> put out recent mock drafts that agree Love will go fifth overall to the Giants. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nfl\/news\/priscos-2026-nfl-mock-draft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">CBS Sports<\/a>, meanwhile, has him falling to the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/washington-commanders\/\" title=\"Washington Commanders\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"217082\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Commanders<\/a> at seventh overall.<\/p>\n<p>That should be a major signal to the Bengals. If Cincinnati wants to add Love, they\u2019ll need to make a move and trade up in the draft. Otherwise, he\u2019s likely not going to be there at 10th overall.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/danmorr96\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dan Morrison<\/a> After graduating from UMass in 2019, Dan Morrison quickly began a career in sports journalism and digital media. That has seen him work both as a contributing writer at several publications, as well as spending time on the National News Desk at On3. During that time, he has spent the majority of his time covering football, both at the college and NFL levels. Currently residing in Central Florida, his focus with Heavy is on the NFL. <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/danmorr96\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Dan Morrison<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Bengals\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Cincinnati Bengals are set to host Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love for a visit ahead&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-857841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116360568504064593","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}