Jeremiyah Love and Malachi Fields are slated for the 2026 NFL Draft's first round, potentially reshaping offenses in Kansas City and Buffalo.
Notre Dame had a dynamic and explosive offense in 2025, and the primary drivers of that success are expected to be top picks in the 2026 NFL Draft. Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network dropped his second mock draft, and his updated projections have two Notre Dame players slated to go in the first round.
The obvious projection is running back Jeremiyah Love, who is projected to go No. 9 overall to the Kansas City Chiefs.
"Patrick Mahomes finally gets an elite back. If defenses continue to play a conservative shell defense against the Chiefs, Love can make them pay." - Daniel Jeremiah, NFL Network
Love had a monster final season for the Irish, winning the Doak Walker Award after rushing for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns. Love was an explosive back that averaged 6.9 yards per carry and also caught 27 passes for 280 yards and three more scores. Love also earned Unanimous All-American honors. He is the clear No. 1 running back in the 2026 draft class.
The new first round projection is wide receiver Malachi Fields, who Jeremiah projects to be taken by the Buffalo Bills with the No. 26 overall pick.
"The Bills add a player with a wide catch radius to complement Khalil Shakir at receiver. Fields was excellent all week long at the Senior Bowl." - Jeremiah
Fields transferred to Notre Dame for the 2025 season after spending his first four seasons at Virginia. His production wasn't quite what was expected, but his film was still quite impressive. He was a big time contested catch weapon, and Fields averaged more yards per game and catches per game against the ranked teams on the schedule than he did unranked opponents. Fields also had a knack for making big catches in big moments.
After Jaden Greathouse went down in game four teams started focusing more and more on taking Fields out of the game, and that's why his production dipped in the final eight games. He was still good in key moments, but with Love and Jadarian Price driving the offense his production wasn't what we saw at Virginia or what we expected. But that doesn't take away from how good Fields was when targeted. But Fields was able to still make a big impact thanks to his impressive blocking.
Speaking of Price, he is projected to be a second round pick in the various mock drafts that go beyond the first round. Price is considered by many to be the second best back in the draft, which means there's a chance he jumps into the late first or early second round pick as well.
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