Another Mock Draft Is Doing the Glorious Thing for Vikings
Usually, Minnesota Vikings fans don’t embark on mock draft season until sometime in January or February, but the process has been expedited due to a pitiful team showing in 2025. Fans are already scouring the internet for 2026 draft coverage. So when the purple team was connected to Notre Dame tailback Jeremyiah Love — again — this week, heads turned.
Another mock draft is doing the glorious thing for the Minnesota Vikings, handing them a standout running back who would instantly reshape the offense.
Love is the top running back in the nation, virtually assured to fly off the draftboard first among players of his position. With any luck, Love will be a Viking.
The Athletic Mock Draft Says Jeremiyah Love for Vikings
The Vikings are in a nice little — it isn’t nice — drought for young running backs.
Love to Minnesota, According to The Athletic
RB-needy teams will seek Love to the utmost, and according to Dane Brugler, the Vikings are one of those squads.
With the draft’s 11th pick, an estimation based on win-loss records through 13 weeks, Bruger mocked Love to Minnesota and wrote, “Like 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.”
Love would instantly earn Minnesota’s RB1 title, at least for the long term, with tailbacks like Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason filling in the gaps for veteran support.
Fans: “Where Do I Sign?“
If the Vikings, as a franchise, want to galvanize fans after a lousy season, the path in the draft is simple: draft Jeremiyah Love.
The organization is starved for an ultra-productive running back, and Love fits the modus operandi. The quarterback play has bent miserably this season, and onboarding a hungry young playmaker like Love might be just what the doctor ordered for offensive improvement.
What’s more, if one assumes the Vikings figure out a way to win a game or two in the next five weeks — basically not tank — drafting Love will perfectly balance Minnesota’s team roster need, Love’s draftboard position, and the best-player-available mentality in April.
No fan will bemoan Love’s presence on the 2026 depth chart.
The 2026 Version of Ashton Jeanty
Love is 6’0″ and 215 pounds. He has early-cycle comparable grades to Bijan Robinson and Ashton Jeanty — no exaggeration. So far in 2025, the prospect has logged 1,372 rushing yards at Notre Dame in 12 games, with 21 total touchdowns.
He’s not an utterly elite pass-catching threat, but he can serve as a passing game relief valve when needed.
Bleacher Report‘s Damian Parson on Love: “Great combination of top-end speed, agility, and explosiveness, making him a dangerous threat with the football at all times. The defense must close the space between them quickly, or he will hit the sideline in full stride after breaking through the first level.”
Parson also noted: “Ability to decelerate and re-accelerate to evade incoming defenders and make sudden cuts/change of direction in the open field. He possesses the lateral explosiveness and agility to press a rush lane and jump-cut to evade closing defenders, while working into a vacated space for positive yards. Runs behind his pads downhill with good balance to finish plays through contact and fall forward.”
Vikings’ Rushing Offense Troubles
This season, Minnesota has run the ball well — when it actually commits to it. The issue is simple: the Vikings call runs at the fifth-lowest rate in the league, signaling they don’t view it as essential to the offense.
Here’s the data:
Vikings Rushing Playcall %,
NFL Ranking,
Kevin O’Connell Era:
2022: 30th
2023: 30th
2024: 18th
2025: 28th
Minnesota will not become a legitimate Super Bowl contender until it reaches at least a Top 16 rushing rate. The league doesn’t let teams throw their way through January every year. You have to run the ball, and you have to do it in the postseason.
Other Notable Selections
With the first overall pick, Brugler connected Indiana quarterback Francisco Mendoza to the Cleveland Browns.
He explained, “Owning two first-rounders in April and having received marginal play under center this season, the Browns have the ammo and motivation to be aggressive quarterback hunters this offseason. Cleveland traded back in last year’s draft to be in position to get its guy in 2026, and neither Dillon Gabriel nor Shedeur Sanders has done anything to change that plan.”
“In this scenario, the Browns package both of their 2026 first-rounders (and probably a 2027 Day 2 selection) to Tennessee for rights to the No. 1 pick. Mendoza, whom NFL scouts compare to Goff or Kirk Cousins, won’t wow with his arm velocity or speed, but his football intelligence (both pre- and post-snap) separates him. He has an outstanding feel for playing on time and layering throws to attack vulnerable spots in the defense, with just enough mobility to avoid sacks at an encouraging rate.”
The NFL Draft is 140 days away.
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