If you’re connecting the dots, one could easily find a scenario where Titans use the 4th overall pick on Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love
The Tennessee Titans enter the 2026 NFL Draft with a clear need at running back beyond this season, a stacked backfield that won’t stay that way for long, and a No. 4 overall pick that may hand them the best solution in the entire draft class.
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is the most talked-about player at his position heading into draft month. He ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, matched the time Jahmyr Gibbs ran before the Lions took him 12th overall in 2023, and then showed up at Notre Dame’s Pro Day to finish what he started. Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi was watching. He later compared Love to Gibbs himself.
“Any time you can get a running back like that, especially a three-down running back, that can play in the pass game as well,” Borgonzi said at the combine podium.
That comment did not go unnoticed. When Borgonzi was pressed this week on whether Love or an edge rusher would go fourth overall, he kept the door open without slamming it shut.
“We’re taking the best football player,” Borgonzi said.
By most evaluations, that player is Love. ESPN analysts Jordan Reid and Matt Miller both have him as the top overall prospect in 2026. Reid has compared him to Bills running back James Cook III, who led the NFL in rushing yards last season. DraftKings currently has Love at -115 to land with the Titans at No. 4.
The case for Tennessee making that pick is hard to argue against. There are other more pressing needs. However, Tony Pollard, the Titans’ current lead back, is entering the final year of his contract. He finished 2025 with 1,082 rushing yards, his fourth consecutive 1,000-yard season, but at 29, his long-term fit in Nashville is far from certain. Tyjae Spears is also in the final year of his rookie deal. Injuries have limited his development. The backfield that looked functional entering 2025 could look entirely different by 2027.
Love offers something neither Pollard nor Spears can. Over the past two college seasons combined, he rushed for 2,497 yards and 35 touchdowns at 6.9 yards per carry. In 2025 alone, he scored 21 total touchdowns and won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back. He also caught 25-plus passes in each of his last two seasons and ran wide receiver routes at the combine to demonstrate his range as a pass-game weapon.
“I can do it all,” Love said at his Pro Day. “I can receive, I can block, I can run.”
For a Titans offense that ranked 30th in the NFL in rushing yards in 2025, that kind of versatility addresses a real problem. Cam Ward is entering his second year. Head coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll need a skill piece that can take pressure off the quarterback while also functioning as a legitimate receiving option.
What makes the fit even cleaner is the timeline. Selecting Love at No. 4 would give the Titans a full season of a Pollard-Love backfield. By 2027, Love would be positioned to become the primary ball-carrier alongside Ward for the next several years.
Dan Campbell, who oversaw the Gibbs selection, was blunt when asked about the Titans’ situation this week at the NFL Owners Meetings.
“We didn’t view Gibbs as a runner,” Campbell said. The implication was clear: when a running back can do everything, the position label becomes the least relevant part of the evaluation.
If Love is selected at No. 4, he would be the highest-drafted running back since the Giants took Saquon Barkley second overall in 2018. That kind of context tends to generate hesitation in front offices. Borgonzi has pushed back on that framing, and the Titans’ actions this offseason — spending heavily on defense and the passing game while leaving the backfield largely untouched — suggest the plan at running back may be coming from the draft room, not free agency.
The 2026 NFL Draft begins April 23 in Pittsburgh. Tennessee is on the clock at No. 4.