Jeremiyah Love and who else? Where Notre Dame players are projected in way-too-early 2026 NFL mock drafts

The Monday after the NFL draft might as well be a national holiday: Way-Too-Early Mock Draft Day. This year, Notre Dame junior running back Jeremiyah Love is a staple in nearly every 2026 edition.

Where do the experts have Love going, and will any Notre Dame players join him? Here’s a roundup of every prominent way-too-early 2026 mock draft (and a big board) on the internet.

This story will be updated as more 2026 mock drafts publish online (ESPN and the Associated Press had yet to publish theirs as of Tuesday morning).

RB Jeremiyah Love

CBS Sports I: No. 14 (Dallas Cowboys)
The Athletic: No. 14 (Dallas Cowboys)
Bleacher Report: No. 14 (Seattle Seahawks)
33rd Team: No. 26 (Cincinnati Bengals)
Fox Sports: No. 16 (Chicago Bears)
USA TODAY Sports: No. 18 (Houston Texans)
The Draft Network: No. 28 (Baltimore Ravens)
Windy City Gridiron: No. 16 (Chicago Bears)
Pro Football Focus: No. 16 (Chicago Bears)
Athlon Sports: No. 18 (Houston Texans)
SB Nation: No. 23 (big board)

After what happened to Benjamin Morrison, we need to add a “barring injury” qualifier whenever we talk about Love in this context. So, with that being said: Barring injury, Love is a slam-dunk first-round pick.

Everyone can see the explosiveness, speed and physicality, but his versatility and contributions in the passing game will go a long way toward enhancing his draft stock. Teams will see him not as a traditional running back, but as a weapon, similarly to the way the Detroit Lions viewed Jahmyr Gibbs. He will also not have as much tread on the tires as many top college ball carriers.

If you’re a team in the mid-first round with a strong offensive line and you want to take your run game from good to great, it’s hard to think of a better option than Love. He could be the league’s next rookie sensation if he goes to the right team.

OT Charles Jagusah

CBS Sports I: No. 19 (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
CBS Sports II: No. 17 (Chicago Bears)

The second CBS Sports mock is the only one we found that does not include Love, for what it’s worth. It does include Jagusah, and it’s a shame Notre Dame does not play a Big Ten team on the road this season because he certainly has fans at CBS.

Jagusah has played in only five games throughout his college career so far, starting two. Will he have enough tape to enter the 2026 draft? One-year wonder concerns would surface if he did, but it’s possible. He clearly has the traits to be a dominant college player and the physical tools to be an NFL first-round pick.

Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph watched Jagusah play in the Orange Bowl against Penn State and thought, “This could be one of the best guards in the country.” National analysts are starting to notice, too.

WR Malachi Fields

CBS Sports I: No. 8 (Cleveland Browns)

This mock draft is an outlier, but could Fields, a fifth-year Virginia transfer, can make the leap to first-round status? We’ll see, but stories like that that are not uncommon. Nobody thought Cam Ward was a first-rounder until he transferred to Miami and became the No. 1 overall pick.

Notre Dame has suffered for a while now because it lacked a big-bodied presence it could rely on to get open on the boundary and make contested catches. Fields, by all accounts, should be that guy. And he did produce at least 55 receptions, 808 yards and 5 touchdowns in each of the past two seasons with a terrible quarterback situation at Virginia.

He’ll probably need 1,000 yards to rise to first-round status and that might be difficult in a run-heavy offense, but the buzz around Fields — and not just from this mock draft — is more prominent than Notre Dame fans might think.

WR Jaden Greathouse

Fox Sports: No. 28 (Detroit Lions)
SB Nation: No. 18 (big board)

An overreaction to the Orange Bowl and national title game? Perhaps, but if Greathouse picks up where he left off in a standalone game on Aug. 31 at Miami, the hype will become very real for the junior wide receiver out of Austin (Texas) Westlake.

Slot-only receivers also tend to be undervalued. Slot receivers who can also play on the outside? Those are worth a ton. Greathouse will need to move around more and be more involved in 12 personnel, but make no mistake, Notre Dame believes Greathouse can rise to college stardom this season. He also fits the “big slot” mold that has had NFL success (think Adam Thielen or Keenan Allen).

Another player who fits that archetype is Emeka Egbuka, who was a first-round pick out of Ohio State on Thursday. Egbuka does not have blazing speed, but he did run a 4.48 40-yard dash. Greathouse’s wheels might not be quite that fast, but if he can get into that range, he has a shot.