While all the focus is on where Notre Dame star and Heisman Trophy finalist Jeremiyah Love will land in the 2026 NFL Draft, there’s been almost no buzz about the rest of the running back class.
In fact, Love is the only running back expected to go in the first round of the draft in a few weeks.
In sampling mock drafts from some notable draft handicappers, here’s where they project Love to be selected.
NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah, Bucky Brooks and ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. (No. 4 to the Tennessee Titans), The Ringer’s Todd McShay (No. 5 to the New York Giants) and ESPN’s Field Yates (No. 7 to the Washington Commanders)
Jeremiah is the only one in that group projecting a second running back in the first round — slotting Love’s Notre Dame teammate Jadarian Price at No. 32 to the Seattle Seahawks. But that’s an outlier take. In his two-round mock draft, Yates didn’t project a second running back (Price) being drafted until the final pick of the second round (No. 64 overall).
But that doesn’t mean there is a dearth of talent at the position in this draft class. Not at all.
Running back is one of the easier positions at which to find impact players beyond the first round, in part because general managers know that.
In fact, five of the NFL’s top six rushing leaders last season were Day 2 or Day 3 draft picks:
1. James Cook (2nd round, 63rd overall) 1,621 yards
2. Derrick Henry (2nd round, 45th) – 1,595 yards
3. Jonathan Taylor (2nd round, 41st) – 1,585
4. Bijan Robinson (1st round, 8th) – 1,478
5. De’Von Achane (3rd round, 84th) – 1,350
6. Kyren Williams (5th round, 164th) – 1,252
Henry led all of college football and set SEC records in 2015 when he rushed for 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns while winning the Heisman Trophy — and he couldn’t crack the first round of the draft! Ditto Taylor, who finished top 10 in the Heisman voting three times and was a consensus first-team All-American at Wisconsin.
Seven other 1,000-yard rushers in 2025 were also drafted after the first round: Javonte Williams (2nd round, 35th; 1,201 rushing yards), D’Andre Swift (2nd round, 35th; 1,087 yards), Tony Pollard (4th round, 128th; 1,082 yards), Rico Dowdle (undrafted; 1,076 yards), Breece Hall (2nd round, 36th; 1,065 yards), Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III (2nd round, 41st; 1,027 yards), Chase Brown (5th round, 163rd; 1,019).
So who could those Day 2/3 running back bargains be this year? Here are five we like to make an impact in the NFL.
(We’ll exclude Price as he seems to be the consensus No. 2 RB in the draft and instead look deeper into the pool of RBs.)
Potential Running Back NFL Draft Bargains
1. Arkansas’ Mike Washington Jr.
What more does Washington have to show scouts and NFL decision-makers?
After operating in obscurity for three years at Buffalo and one at New Mexico State, Washington seized the SEC spotlight in his lone season at Arkansas rushing for 1,070 yards and 8 TDs on a career-high 6.4 yards per carry.
Washington didn’t pile up those numbers against the Razorbacks’ lighter competition either, taking just 9 carries each in the two games against non-Power Four opponents. He rushed for 131 yards and a TD against Tennessee (6.9 YPC), 147 against Texas A&M (9.2 YPC), 116 and a TD against Mississippi State (6.1 YPC), 87 and a TD on just 12 carries vs. LSU (7.3 YPC) and 105 and a TD against Texas (6.2 YPC).
He ranked fourth among P4 running backs with 13 runs of 20 yards or more.
Washington wasn’t a major target in the passing game, but he added 28 catches for 226 yards and 1 TD.
He then started building some pre-draft momentum with a strong week at the Senior Bowl before turning heads at the NFL Scouting Combine, running the fasted 40-yard dash (4.33 seconds) of any running back — which is especially impressive at 6-foot-1, 223 pounds.
ESPN’s Matt Miller, who put out a full seven-round mock draft, projects Washington going No. 64 to the Seahawks.
That would be a tremendous outcome for Seattle, which lost Walker in free agency to the Kansas City Chiefs and has Zach Charbonnet recovering from a torn ACL sustained in the playoffs.
2. Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson
Johnson was a true “workhorse” running back for the Cornhuskers, leading all Power Four running backs in rushing attempts per game (20.92) while still averaging a robust 5.8 YPC to total 1,451 yards and 12 TDs. He ranked second among P4 backs in rushing yards per game (120.92) and also was a capable pass-catcher out of the backfield with 46 catches for 370 yards and 3 TDs.
At 5-foot-10, 202 pounds, Johnson’s 4.56 40-yard dash time at the combine was the slowest of the 10 RBs who tested, and in general, his combine testing raised some questions about his athleticism. His Nebraska film raises no such questions.
Johnson danced his way through traffic all season to create yards that weren’t there and showed enough breakaway speed to rip off three runs of at least 50 yards. Per PFF, he ranked 8th among all FBS RBs in missed tackles caused with 68.
Nebraska didn’t truly lean into Johnson as such a high-volume RB until the final five games of the season, though. He averaged 26.4 carries and 147.6 rushing yards per game in that stretch, as outlined below:
vs. Northwestern: 27 carries for 124 yards and 2 TDs
vs. USC: 29 carries for 165 yards and a TD
at UCLA: 28 carries for 129 yards and a TD (plus 3 catches for 103 yards and 2 TDs)
at Penn State: 19 carries for 103 yards (plus 8 catches for 48 yards)
vs. Iowa: 29 carries for 217 yards and a TD
Miller’s seven-round mock draft slots Johnson at the very end of the third round (No. 100 overall) to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Now that’s value.
3. Penn State’s Kaytron Allen
Allen leaves Penn State as the school’s all-time leading rusher with 4,180 yards on 5.4 YPC, which is even more impressive when considering he shared the backfield all four seasons with Nicholas Singleton (3,461 career rushing yards).
There seems to be a debate as to which Nittany Lions running back should come off the draft board first, reminiscent of Georgia’s backfield tandem of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel in the 2018 NFL Draft (with Michel misguidedly going four picks ahead of the superior Chubb).
In this case, we like the 5-foot-11, 216-pound Allen a little more.
Allen set career-highs in 2025 with 1,303 rushing yards, 6.2 YPC and 15 TDs.
Penn State let him loose over the final six games when he averaged 23.3 carries for 139.3 rushing yards per game. In that stretch, he was pretty well contained by the elite defenses of Ohio State (21 carries for 76 yards and a TD) and Indiana (19-48-0), but he took it to a good Iowa defense on the road (28-145-2) and then closed his career with big games against Michigan State (25-181-2), Nebraska (25-160-2) and Rutgers (22-226-1). Take from that what you will.
Allen opted out of running the 40-yard dash at both the NFL Scouting Combine and Penn State’s Pro Day, and there’s a reason for that. His raw speed isn’t going to stand out on paper and he’s not much of a pass-catcher, but he showed exceptional vision and decisiveness for finding his rushing lanes and making his cuts and could be tough to bring down.
Miller’s seven-round mock draft has Allen going in the fifth round (No. 161) to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 55 picks after Singleton, while Kiper ranks Allen fourth among RBs in this draft with Singleton sixth.
If Allen is indeed still available in the fifth round, RB-needy teams should be trading up to snag him.
4. Texas A&M’s Le’Veon Moss
Moss’ draft stock is going to be suppressed by his injury history and the fact he never played a full season in four years at Texas A&M, totaling 9, 9 and 7 games his final three seasons — with a torn ACL/MCL cutting short his 2024 campaign and an ankle injury sidelining him for the final six games last season.
Because of the ankle injury, Moss also opted out of testing and workouts at the NFL Scouting Combine.
But when he was healthy and on the field for the Aggies, he was always a factor — and that upside and potential will be enough NFL teams to gamble on in the draft.
Moss averaged 5.5 YPC for his college career with his best season coming in 2024 before the knee injury. He had 765 yards and 10 TDs in essentially eight games. In five full SEC games, he averaged 102.6 yards on 14.8 carries per game.
He only had two games in 2025 where he got more than 11 carries. In those games, he rushed for 81 yards and 3 TDs on 20 attempts in the big win over Notre Dame and 139 yards and a TD on 21 carries vs. Arkansas.
Unlike the two RBs we just spotlighted, Moss is not going to be a high-volume back. Those two games were the only ones in his career that he reached 20 carries and he only had 10 games over the last three seasons that he even reached 15 rushing attempts.
Moss has pushed back on the injury-prone label, and to be fair, it’s not as if he was in and out of the lineup with minor injuries — a torn ACL/MCL is just misfortune and a serious ankle injury requires time to heal.
Miller has Moss going in the fourth round (No. 119) to the Carolina Panthers.
There is some obvious risk here, but the upside is well worth the gamble on Day 3 of the draft.
5. Indiana’s Kaelon Black
Black was surprisingly not even invited to the NFL Scouting Combine after rushing for 1,040 yards and 10 TDs on 5.6 YPC on Indiana’s national championship run.
Black split backfield duties with Roman Hemby, who got 44 more carries, but Black shined the brightest in the College Football Playoff posting rushing lines of 15-99-1 vs. Alabama, 12-63-2 vs. Oregon and 17-79-0 vs. Miami in the national championship game.
The 5-foot-9, 208-pound rusher was a bit of a late bloomer, spending four years at James Madison before following coach Curt Cignetti to Indiana. He played a minor role for the Hoosiers in 2024 before his belated breakout.
He had 12 or fewer carries in 10 of Indiana’s 16 games yet made the most of his opportunities. His 14 runs of 20 yards or more last season was tied for second among P4 running backs (albeit with extra games).
Miller did not have Black going anywhere in his seven-round mock draft. That’s wild.
We’re not saying Black is a top 5 running back in this draft, but he might be a top 5 value if he tumbles to the end of Day 3.
NFL teams are absolutely interested in the Indiana standout.
