Joel Klatt Urges Giants To Draft Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love To ‘Replace Saquon Barkley’

Joel Klatt urges the New York Giants to draft Jeremiyah Love at number five overall to finally replace Saquon Barkley.

The New York Giants have spent the offseason searching for long-term offensive cornerstones, and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love has emerged as one of the most intriguing possibilities for their first-round pick. With a new coaching staff in place and a young offensive nucleus beginning to take shape, the franchise is positioned to add another foundational piece to its rebuild.


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Why Joel Klatt Believes Jeremiyah Love Is the New York Giants’ Long-Term Answer

That is exactly the scenario Joel Klatt laid out on the latest episode of “The Joel Klatt Show,” where he argued that Love should be the Giants’ target if he is still available. Klatt said the dynamic runner offers New York a rare chance to regain the explosive backfield presence it lost when Saquon Barkley departed.

“What do the Giants do at five. Well, guess what’s available at five? Jeremiyah Love. You can replace Saquon Barkley. You can get your Barkley back on your team,” Klatt said.

Love has been widely viewed as one of the most complete offensive prospects in the class, blending burst, vision, and versatility in a way that has drawn comparisons to several modern feature backs. Klatt believes those traits align perfectly with the identity the new head coach, John Harbaugh, intends to build.

“I really love this idea in particular with a guy like John Harbaugh, who you know wants to establish the run-game and be in that mold,” Klatt said. “Now you can have an offense that’s centered around Jaxson Dart, Malik Nabers on the outside, and Jeremiyah Love in the backfield.”

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The Giants selected Dart in the first round last year, pairing him with Nabers, and the two quickly became one of the league’s most electric young duos. Adding Love, Klatt argued, would give New York a balanced trio capable of restoring the physical, dynamic style the team once had with Barkley.

A significant part of Klatt’s argument centers on the uncertainty surrounding the current backfield. Cam Skattebo, who handled the majority of early-down carries in 2025, is returning from a dislocated ankle and a fractured fibula.

His durability concerns date back to college, when he carried heavy workloads and faced frequent contact. His PFSN RB Impact score of 57.3 ranked him 34th among running backs last season, placing him in the lower tier of long-term options.

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“I don’t think Cam Skattebo is the answer long-term,” Klatt said. “He’s coming off that really bad injury. Dislocated ankle, he fractured his fibula. He took a lot of pounding in his college career. That’s not a long-term answer, and everyone in that organization looks at Saquon Barkley, and they’re like ‘how did we let that walk out the door?'”

For Klatt, Love represents both a solution and a second chance. If the Notre Dame star is available when the Giants are on the clock, he believes the decision should be straightforward.

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