I think the board is swooning over Love like a 13 year old girl after boy band crush.
I think the board is being a little irrational about RB value — especially in the context of the Commanders at 7. Jeremiah Love’s rookie deal would be roughly $9M AAV over four years. A top 5 RB right now makes about $13M AAV. That’s only a ~$4M annual delta. Meanwhile, a top 5 WR or EDGE is making $30M+ per year. Even a top 15–20 guy at those premium positions is in the mid-20s. The surplus value math just isn’t the same. Drafting a WR or EDGE at 7 gives you massive cost control relative to the veteran market. Drafting a RB doesn’t — because the veteran market for RBs is already depressed. The scarcity argument cuts against drafting a RB that high. Good RBs are available every year in free agency. They’re available on Day 2 and Day 3 of the draft. There are probably 80–100 backs in the league you’d feel fine plugging in if the OL and passing game are good. The position has a relatively flat value curve. That is not true at WR or EDGE. Last year showed Washington exactly that — you can’t just grab replacement-level players at premium spots and expect acceptable outcomes. At EDGE and WR, scarcity and price both spike hard.
For Love to justify pick 7, he has to be more than “good.” He basically has to be Bijan Robinson / Christian McCaffrey / Saquon Barkley level — a true top 3–4 RB who tilts defensive structure. Because if he’s merely the 8th–12th best back in football, the ROI doesn’t separate enough from what you could acquire later or in free agency. Meanwhile, if you draft the 18th–25th best WR or EDGE on a rookie contract, you’re still likely getting strong surplus value relative to the market. I like Love as a player. I just don’t like the economics of RB at 7. The positional value curve and the cap landscape make the threshold for success at RB dramatically higher than at premium positions. And unless you’re convinced he’s a true outlier, that’s a hard bet to justify.
 }})
