Is RB Jeremiyah Love Really in Play for Giants at No. 5?

It might sound crazy to think about selecting a running back in the top five of the NFL draft, and certainly it’s a road the New York Giants have gone down before when they drafted Saquon Barkley No. 2 overall in 2018, only to have one postseason appearance during Barkley’s six seasons with the team.

But that was then, under a different general manager and a different coaching staff. And this is now.

Would the Giants actually contemplate what many fans might see as the unthinkable and spend the fifth overall pick not on a linebacker like Ohio State’s Sonny Styles but rather on Notre Dame’s all-purpose running back Jeremiyah Love?

“Where we are right now is a different place than the Saquon situation,” general manager Joe Schoen told reporters on Monday at the league meetings in Phoenix.

“We got a young quarterback, we have a number one receiver, we got (right tackle) Jermaine Eluemunor, the offensive line is stronger. So we’re going to take the best player available, regardless of position, that will help the New York Giants.”

That young quarterback, Jaxson Dart, is the very reason why the chances of the Giants selecting Love with the first-round pick shouldn’t be dismissed as a smokescreen.

A solid running back can do wonders for an offense, such as keeping drives alive, setting up big pass plays, reducing the constant onslaught of the pass rush, closing out games, and being a weapon on short-yardage and in the red zone.

For the Giants, a strong running game can also help Dart by reducing the need for a surplus of designed runs every week, which puts the fearless young quarterback, determined to squeeze out as much yardage as possible per rushing attempt, in harm’s way.

Are NY Giants, John Harbaugh Set to Break a Draft Trend?

In his four seasons as general manager, Schoen has never selected a running back in Days 1 or 2 of the draft.

Head coach John Harbaugh, who described Love as a “very, very good player,” only to quip, “put a couple very’s in front of that–maybe a couple more,” has never been a part of a draft in which a running back has gone higher than No. 55, that being JK Dobbins who was the Ravens’ second-round pick in 2020.

But those who don’t evolve in their thinking stay the same, and Schoen, who has admitted to having made mistakes in the past about his attempts to build the Giants into a winner, has apparently started to realize that beliefs he might have held fast to in the past are not necessarily ones that he needs to continue adhering to if he wants to remain in his job.

“Have I evolved? Yes. Do I like it? No,” Schoen told reporters at the combine.

“When you think about what Malik [Nabers] would get on the open market or even Jaxson [Dart] or Abdul [Carter], you get a surplus value from taking those players where you took them.

“And there are some positions where you don’t get the benefit of that. But does that mean I won’t take a player because of that? No. I’ll take the best player available.”

Even if that player is a running back.

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