{"id":270017,"date":"2026-03-28T09:08:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T13:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=270017"},"modified":"2026-03-28T09:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T13:09:26","slug":"vikings-mock-draft-shockingly-has-team-taking-jeremiyah-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/03\/28\/vikings-mock-draft-shockingly-has-team-taking-jeremiyah-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings Mock Draft Shockingly Has Team Taking Jeremiyah Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Running back Jeremiyah Love is widely projected as a top-10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. But could he end up sliding to No. 18? Nolan <\/span>Bianchi and Richard Silva of The\u00a0Detroit News<\/a> released a Vikings mock draft. Bianchi has the Notre Dame star going to Minnesota 18th overall:<\/p>\n

\u201c18. Minnesota Vikings \u2014 Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again, Love falls to a slot that neither of us is really comfortable with; we both fully expect him to go in the top 15. But with no trades allowed in this exercise, it makes it difficult to get him off the board earlier. So, congratulations, Vikings: you\u2019re finally making good on the attempted trade-up for Jahmyr Gibbs<\/a> in 2023. \u2014 NB (Nolan Bianchi)\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, Jeremiyah Love is expected to be a top-10 pick, possibly even top-five. That means it’s highly unlikely that he’ll be available at No. 18. But nobody expected Aaron Rodgers to slide<\/a> all the way down to No. 24 in 2005. Weird things happen in the draft sometimes.<\/p>\n

Vikings Mock Draft Shockingly Has Team Taking Jeremiyah Love<\/h2>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/h3>\n

Love\u2019s Career Thus Far<\/h3>\n

Jeremiyah Love attended Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis. During his senior year, he rushed for 1,291 yards and 22 touchdowns. He also caught 13 passes for 370 yards and five touchdowns.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Love received college offers from schools like Michigan, Oregon, and Texas A&M. Yet, he committed to Notre Dame. During his first collegiate season, he recorded\u00a0<\/sup>385 rushing yards, 77 receiving yards, and two touchdowns.\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n

Love became a starter in 2024, replacing Audric Estime<\/a>, who went to the NFL. He wound up rushing for 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns while catching 28 passes for 237 yards and two scores. Love helped Notre Dame reach the National Championship Game, where they lost to Ohio State.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Love and the Fighting Irish ended the regular season with a 10-2 record. Love rushed for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns. He also hauled in 27 receptions for 280 yards and three touchdowns. In addition, he was a finalist for <\/span>the Heisman Trophy. Indiana quarterback <\/span>Fernando Mendoza<\/a> ultimately won the award.<\/span><\/p>\n

Should the Vikings Draft Him?<\/h3>\n

The Vikings had a great 2024 campaign. Led by quarterback Sam Darnold<\/a>, they finished second in the NFC North with a 14-3 record. But this past season without Darnold (signed with the Seattle Seahawks), Minnesota finished 9-8 and missed the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Vikings signed<\/a> quarterback Kyler Murray this offseason. Perhaps the former Arizona Cardinals star will bounce-back in and help lead his new team to the postseason. For that to happen, though, Murray must be surrounded by offensive weapons.<\/p>\n

Jeremiyah Love (if he falls to 18) could certainly help out Murray and the gang. He possesses elite speed and exceptional playmaking ability. Plus, he would be a major upgrade over the Vikings\u2019 current running backs Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones.<\/span><\/p>\n

Four-time Pro Bowl receiver Justin Jefferson<\/a>, Love, and Murray could prove to be an exciting trio for Minnesota in 2026.<\/p>\n

The 6’0″, 214 lb Love has the potential to become a superstar NFL running back. If he somehow falls in the draft, the Vikings would be foolish not to pick him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Image: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a Vikings mock draft, the team selects Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love with the 18th overall pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":270620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647,26,33761,6431],"tags":[34130,33664,7753],"class_list":["post-270017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-vikings","category-mock-drafts","category-nfl-teams","tag-2026-nfl-mock-draft","tag-jeremiyah-love","tag-minnesota-vikings-news"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270017"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270948,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270017\/revisions\/270948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}