Giants' Draft Board Reveals Jeremiyah Love Was Valued Equally to a Linebacker — What That Means for New York's Backfield

Per Pro Football Rumors, the New York Giants held virtually identical draft grades on Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love and linebacker Arvell Reese heading into the 2025 NFL Draft — a detail that reframes how the organization actually values positional assets. The Giants were reportedly enamored with Love well before draft weekend, with some internal voices pushing to take him as high as No. 5 overall despite the widely understood market inefficiency of spending a top-five pick on a running back. New York was also prepared to select offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa at that same slot, which underscores just how fluid their big board was at the top.

The equal grading of Love and Reese isn't necessarily an indictment of Love — it speaks more to how the Giants' front office constructs its evaluation model, one that appears to weight scheme fit and character profiles heavily alongside pure talent. Love is an explosive, between-the-tackles runner out of Notre Dame who posted 1,420 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns in his final college season. Reese is a physical linebacker prospect with upside as a run defender. That the Giants saw comparable value tells you they were less interested in positional scarcity and more focused on a specific player profile — which is either a sophisticated approach or a flawed one, depending on how Love's transition to the NFL unfolds.

For New York's offense, the implications are immediate. The Giants enter 2025 with a backfield that lacks a true bellcow, and Love's arrival — whenever he was selected — immediately positions him as a candidate for early feature-back usage under offensive coordinator Mike Kafka. The team's ground game ranked 22nd in yards per carry last season, and there is genuine organizational appetite to re-establish the run as an identity. Love's skill set — patient, powerful, with above-average receiving chops out of the backfield — fits a scheme that wants to take pressure off a developing quarterback.

From a prop-betting standpoint, Love is one of the more intriguing rookie rushing props on the board precisely because the organization was willing to consider him at No. 5 overall. That level of internal enthusiasm typically translates to early-season volume, not a committee split. His receiving ability out of the backfield also makes receptions and receiving yards props worth monitoring as training camp depth charts take shape. Early-market season rushing attempts and receiving props for Love are likely to be set conservatively given his rookie status — that's where the value lives. Watch for over opportunities on his rushing attempts and receptions totals once Vegas prices him as a rotational back rather than the featured option the Giants clearly envisioned.

The Mauigoa detail is a secondary signal worth noting: New York's willingness to go tackle at No. 5 instead of running back suggests they see the offensive line as the primary constraint on their ground game, not talent at the skill position. If Mauigoa anchors the line and Love gets clean interior lanes, the rushing volume story gets even stronger. Bet the Giants' team rushing total over in early-season games against soft fronts, and treat Love's per-game props as undervalued until the market catches up to how the front office actually feels about him.