2026 NFL Draft Mailbag: Jeremiyah Love Leads the RB Class

Welcome to our second draft mailbag of the fall! Over the weekend on Twitter/X, I asked for draft-related questions that you’ll see below. Questions were edited for clarity. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions this week!

2026 NFL Draft October Mailbag

Question from @SKOLinMichigan: “What does the RB class look like? I’m a casual who doesn’t follow college closely. All I know is Jeremiyah Love from Notre Dame.”

The bad news is that the 2026 RB class is a clear step down from the amazing 2025 RB class that we just had. The good news is that it’s significantly better than the mediocre 2024 RB crop (“led” by Jonathon Brooks and Trey Benson).

It could end up looking something like the 2023 class, with Jeremiyah Love playing the part of Bijan Robinson, Jonah Coleman as Zach Charbonnet, and Demond Claiborne perhaps cast in a De'Von Achane role. I’m not prepared to put Justice Haynes in the same breath as Jahmyr Gibbs, but Haynes is soaring up draft boards and looks like an early-Round 2 prospect.

The 2023 class did not have great depth, with Day 3 providing only one regular (Chase Brown). It’s possible that the 2026 class could ultimately profile the same. Of the RBs I project as early-Day 3 picks in April, you’ve got a couple committee backs in Kaytron Allen and Darius Taylor, and you’ve got a couple durability question marks in Le'Veon Moss and CJ Baxter.

Beneath those guys, I’m not incredibly confident pointing to one down-the-board runner that I think has a legitimate chance to one day be owned in +90% of fantasy leagues.

This is a cyclical function of the draft process. With the ludicrous depth of last year’s RB class, it was a position group that was bound to take a step back in both quality and depth in 2026.

You can read my extended thoughts on the RB class later this week at Fantasy Life when we publish my updated top-20 2026 RB rankings.

Question from @MarkLarson28: “Where do you see Jadarian Price in your early RB ratings?”

I currently rank Jadarian Price RB4 in the 2026 class. I’ve been impressed by Price this fall. He’s averaging 6.7 YPC, with an average of 4.1 yards after contact and a 110.2 elusive rating. Price’s teammate Jeremiyah Love, the consensus RB1 in the class, is averaging 6.1 YPC with 3.8 after contact and an elusive rating of 93.0.

Love is bigger, more athletic and a better receiver. But Price’s explosiveness has opened eyes this fall, and he’s put himself in position to potentially hear his name called on Day 2 in April if he declares early. That’s going to be a fascinating decision for Price: Does he want to return to Notre Dame to be a bell cow in 2026, or does he want to cash in his chips now? Like Love, Price is a true junior.

I’ll have extended thoughts on Price later this week in the top-20 RB rankings column.

Question from @EricMulhair: “What do you think of Georgia TE Oscar Delp, and am I crazy to think he can be a very good pro despite not putting up huge numbers in college?”

You bring up a good point in that Delp gets slept on a little bit because of his lackluster receiving stats. This is Delp’s third year as a regular, and his fourth contributing, and to date he has only 60 career catches. Twitter’s army of boxscore scouts will discount him.

But I think Delp has a good shot to be drafted. Delp plays inline in Georgia’s 12-personnel offense, a spot he inherited from Darnell Washington in 2023. The receiving TE in the offense was Brock Bowers in 2023, and has been Lawson Luckie ever since.

Delp does the dirty work for the Bulldogs, and has improved as a blocker as he’s gone along. Delp’s NFL team will always have a better option to deploy as a big slot. But Delp will appeal to teams that like to use multiple TEs because of his lunchpail game.

There are 10 NFL offenses that have used 12-personnel on 31%-or-more of snaps in 2025, and 20 that have used it on 21%-or-more.

My guess is that Delp winds up on one of those 20 teams as a developmental inline prospect. I doubt he’ll ever be relevant to fantasy owners – but, then again, I thought the same of AJ Barner coming out of Michigan.

Question from @SKOLvikingSKOL: “What running backs/wide receivers should I be looking to draft in my dynasty league?”

A couple risers to toss at you to monitor down the stretch.

Running Backs: Michigan’s Justice Haynes, Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price, NC State’s Hollywood Smothers.

Wide Receivers: Tennessee’s Chris Brazzell II, Rutgers’ Ian Strong, Auburn’s Eric Singleton Jr.

Question from @Douglas42973304: “What do you think of Jordyn Tyson? Who's going to be the top draft prospects among the wide receivers?”

Man, I love Jordyn Tyson.

He was my WR1 over the summer, and I ranked him as a top-3 overall player in the class in my initial 2026 big board that dropped two weeks ago.

Here was my capsule on Tyson:

"Tyson is boundary/slot interchangeable, and he stresses the defense at all three levels. He has picked up right where he left off last season while addressing a big question on his evaluation by slashing his drop rate. The other big question will have to wait for the spring, medicals, following a torn ACL, MCL and PCL as a freshman (Tyson’s dominance since his return assuages my concern in that regard). It’s difficult to stay with Tyson one-on-one in man coverage. Tyson posted an absurd 4.62 YPRR against man coverage last fall. He’s very clearly the best receiver in the 2026 class."

The rest of my current top-5 WRs for the 2026 class: Washington’s Denzel Boston, USC’s Makai Lemon, Ohio State’s Carnell Tate and Alabama’s Germie Bernard.

Question from @sjjackso2: “Who will be the first G5 player taken? Who are you highest on that could potentially go undrafted?”

No G5 player made my initial top-60 board. However, two G5 players finished just outside that top-60, both defensive backs: San Diego State CB Chris Johnson and Toledo S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.

One FCS player found himself with Johnson and McNeil-Warren in the grouping just outside my top-60 overall: North Dakota State WR Bryce Lance, the brother of Chargers QB Trey Lance.

The second part of your question is tough to precisely gauge and calculate where we sit in mid-October, but I’ll give it a crack.

Here are three G5 prospects that I think should be drafted who I do not think are guaranteed to be drafted: UTSA RB Robert Henry Jr., Navy DT Landon Robinson and Northern Illinois EDGE Roy Williams.

Henry and Robinson are classic examples of the question you’re asking – both have outstanding statistical profiles, but are not going to be flattered by measurables. Williams, on the other hand, is body beautiful with length, and he’s expected to be an above-average tester during the pre-draft process. But on the field, Williams is an edge-setting grinder, not a dynamic pass-rushing presence. Because of that, and because of the aforementioned depth of the EDGE class, it’s possible that Williams could get lost in the shuffle.

I’ll also give a bonus FCS player for this part of the answer: Lance’s quarterback at North Dakota State, QB Cole Payton. The QB8 on my board currently, Payton was graded as a UDFA by the NFL over the summer, and he doesn’t currently appear in the top-10 of many industry QB rankings. But I think Payton has a rich-man’s Tim Tebow-type game, and I believe he’s worth a Day 3 developmental dart throw.

Question from @GrahamPower3: “How is the depth of this draft class following last year's massive “COVID kids” class. How will the transfer portal and NIL deals affect the usual junior and (redshirt) sophomore prospects who could just stay in school for the NIL money?”

From a treetop perspective, I see the 2026 NFL Draft class as below-average in overall talent. A part of that is fewer blue-chip prospects at the top—this isn’t as strong of a year to have a top-10 pick, and it’s a bad year to need a quarterback.

I do not like the depth of the class as much as last year, either.

There are big exceptions to that, of course. The two-best position groups in the upcoming draft class appear to be offensive tackle and edge rusher. Both of those positions have a handful of attractive, plug-and-play top-50 prospects. Both of those positions also have really good depth—we will see long-term NFL starters at each spot taken in Day 3 in April.

Depth at the RB position drops off considerably from the embarrassment-of-riches class that we had last year, as mentioned above. But, for instance, I’m starting to really like the depth I’m seeing at the WR position. I came into this fall concerned that this could be a throwaway WR class—I no longer think that. I think we’re going to get an above-average WR class with legitimate Day 3 depth.

Question from @TunningTime: “Any schools standing out in a moneyball analysis, i.e. snagging lower-cost NIL transfers that NFL execs covet?”

Clear answer for me here: Indiana.

You’re going to see a lot more Hoosiers drafted these next couple of years—including the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft with QB Fernando Mendoza. Most of them have been NIL bargains.

This is due to HC Curt Cignetti’s scouting process, which, like his game plans, deviates from other coaches. Watch the clip below. Cignetti doesn’t look at recruiting rankings. He and his staff do their own work on every recruit. You can absolutely Moneyball things in the Wild West portal era we’re in – nobody has done that better than Cignetti the past two offseasons.

You can expect that to continue at Indiana. When Cignetti was asked recently about the process that led to his record-breaking contract extension at Indiana, he told the media that his interaction with Indiana’s athletic director about it only lasted a couple of minutes.

Why? Because Cignetti was grinding film in his office for game prep when the AD knocked on his door. Cignetti was asked if he was interested in a long-term extension. He said yes. Then he referred the AD to his agent, and got back into the film. That’s what they’re paying him for.

Question from @CodyTheGleas: “How many squirrels could you realistically defeat at once in hand to hand combat?”

In the words of Bill Simmons: Yep, these are my readers.

Players Mentioned in this Article

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2026 NFL Draft Mailbag: Jeremiyah Love Leads the RB Class

2026 NFL Draft October Mailbag

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