NFL Combine winners and losers, Day 3: Jeremiyah Love sets Indianapolis ablaze

The NFL Combine is nearing its end, with Saturday bringing workouts for QBs, running backs and receivers. For some of the thinnest position groups in this 2026 NFL Draft class, athletic testing and on-field drills figured to be huge. And sure enough, we learned quite a bit on the field in Indy.

It's worth stressing that the Combine is far from the only piece of evaluation when it comes to the NFL Draft. Arm length, vertical and 40 times in a half-empty stadium without pads or an opposing defense can only tell you so much. However, that doesn't mean that the NFL Combine doesn't also produce winners and losers. These are those who fall in that group from the quarterbacks and skill groups.

NFL Combine winners from Day 3 with the quarterbacks, running backs and receivers

RB Jeremiyah Love (Notre Dame)

Love entered the Combine with very, very little gain. He's been locked into the RB1 spot in this draft class since before the college season even ended, and he could've simply wrapped himself in bubble wrap until April and gone in the top half of the first round. But Love decided to work out in Indianapolis anyway — and not only that, but he gave some teams in the top 10 a lot to think about.

Love's 4.34 40-yard dash ranked second among RBs on the day, which is even more impressive when you consider that this was the fastest running back class on record at the Combine. That's an eye-popping number considering his stout frame and otherworldly contact balance, and reinforces the notion that Love is truly the total package.

If there's a downside here, it's that the early portion of the first round shapes up in a way that would seem to put a hard ceiling on his stock. It's hard to identify a team that would even consider taking a running back until you get to Kansas City at No. 9 overall, and even that's dicey given the Chiefs' other needs. But Love more than looked the part on Saturday, and at least inserted himself into that conversation.

RB Mike Washington Jr. (Arkansas)

We mentioned that Love was only the second-fastest RB at the Combine, and that's because Washington Jr. came out of nowhere to set the field at Lucas Oil Stadium on fire. Washington put up a blistering 4.33, and he did so at 6-foot-1 and 223 pounds. Oh, and he also finished second behind Kentucky's Seth McGowan in both the broad and vertical jumps.

That's an elite combination of size and speed at the position, and if you're wondering whether here's a mere workout warrior, don't: He was quietly one of the better backs in the SEC last season, overcoming a mediocre Arkansas offense to rush for over 1,000 yards on 6.4 yards per carry.

Washington's not a flash in the pan, in other words, even though he spent four years in the Group of 6 before arriving at Arkansas. And in a running back class that was wide open behind Love, he just staked a compelling claim to be considered at RB2 and potentially a Day 2 pick.

QB Taylen Green (Arkansas)

Green was expected to do well at the Combine. He looks like a small forward at 6-foot-6 and 227 pounds, and he used his long strides in the open field to rush for over 1,300 yards over the last two years as the starter at Arkansas. It's been obvious that he's a freak athlete for a long time, and this is the sort of event that's made for guys like him.

Even still: Holy smokes. Green nearly posted a perfect 10 RAS score, running the 40 in 4.37 and posting eye-popping totals in the vertical (43.5 inches) and broad jumps (11 feet, two inches). Of course, there's a reason why you probably haven't heard his name much in this draft class: He leaves a lot to be desired as a thrower and a decision-maker, completing just 60 percent of his passes in college while taking a ton of sacks and putting the ball in harm's way too often. He doesn't process quickly enough, and he doesn't have quite the arm talent you'd expect from a guy with his frame.

But at least some of those flaws can be chalked up to a dreadful offensive line situation at Arkansas, and in such a sketchy QB class, Green will hold a lot of appeal as a developmental project. He made himself some real money on Saturday.

WR Omar Cooper Jr. (Indiana)

Cooper Jr. was flying under the radar a bit when it came to the top of this WR class, seemingly a cut below the likes of Carnell Tate, Jordyn Tyson, Makai Lemon and Denzel Boston. After Saturday, though, he deserves to be squarely in the conversation when it comes to the back end of Round 1.

Cooper isn't the biggest, or the fastest, or the strongest. But he's good across the board, measuring in at six feet with a 4.42 time in the 40-yard dash. And when you pair that with his ability to play both inside and outside (though he was largely in the slot at Indiana) and his incredible gift for making things happen after the catch, you get a pretty compelling prospect. He's not on Malik Nabers' level, but he looks a bit like Brandon Aiyuk or Stefon Diggs at times, and the physical profile matching his production on tape (69 catches, 937 yards 13 TDs last seaosn) is big for his stock.

WR KC Concepcion (Texas A&M)

The physical stuff was never in question for Concepcion. He's not the most physically imposing receiver, but he was a big-play machine first at NC State and later at Texas A&M, lightning in a bottle with the ball in his hands. If there was a knock on him entering the draft process, it was his ability to do the little things that would help him get the ball in the first place: his route discipline and, most especially, his hands, which were iffy at times. Which is why it was so big for him to look this fluid running the gauntlet drill at the Combine.

Not only did he catch everything that came his way, but he also managed to keep himself in a straight line while he was at it. Don't be surprised if Concepcion hears his name called earlier than you might think on Day 2 — heck, he might even be a very late first rounder.

WR Deion Burks (Oklahoma)

Things just never quite came together for Burks at Oklahoma, both due to injury and due to a downfield passing attack that was ... let's just be nice and say "rudimentary" between Jackson Arnold and John Mateer. But the physical gifts were always there, and on Saturday, he finally got to let them all out:

Burks ran the fastest 40 of the day at 4.30, and he also paced all receivers in the vertical while posting the third-best broad jump at his position. At 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, he's a slot-only player at the next level, and he's even a little bit small by those standards. But he's a strong, explosive athlete, and he put himself firmly into the draft with this performance if nothing else.

NFL Combine losers from Day 3 with the quarterbacks, running backs and receivers

RB Jonah Coleman (Washington)

Coleman winds up a loser here by omission. A strong, stocky back with good footwork, the No. 1 question he had to answer to shore up his draft stock was whether he had the requisite speed to be an NFL starter. And yet, despite promising "blazing speed" in his podium appearance on Friday, the Washington product opted not to work out at all on Saturday.

Of course, that's hardly the end of the story. He may well still run at Washington's Pro Day later this spring, in addition to private workouts with interested teams. But the fact that he wasn't willing to put it on display at the Combine would seem to suggest that the fears about him being more a 4.5-4.6 guy were pretty well-founded, and if that's indeed the case, he could slip a bit.

RB Emmett Johnson (Nebraska)

We knew that Johnson wasn't the biggest back, and sure enough, he checked in at 5-foot-10 and 202 pounds. But that isn't a death sentence in and of itself; it just means that you need to have the quickness and explosiveness to make up for it. Which is why it's so alarming that Johnson flopped there as well: Not only did he run a 4.56 in the 40, but his shuttle and 3-cone times were uninspiring as well.

Johnson was a one-man band at Nebraska, shouldering massive workloads both on the ground and through the air and keeping the Huskers on schedule regardless. But it's tough to see how that's going to work at the next level given his lack of size and apparent lack of athleticism, which could send him tumbling down draft boards.

WR Denzel Boston (Washington)

Boston has gotten plenty of buzz as a first-round pick in this draft, but that might be in jeopardy after his performance in Indy. He was a contested-catch maven on the outside at Washington, and sure enough, he measured in as expected at 6-foot-3, 212 pounds, a frame reminiscent of Broncos star Courtland Sutton. If he was hoping to quiet doubts about his top-end speed and ability to separate at the NFL level, though, it was mission very much not accomplished.

Boston opted against running the 40, likely saving it for a friendlier track at Washington's Pro Day. He disappointed with a 35-inch vertical though, and his first run through the gauntlet drill included multiple drops (though he was cleaner on his second time through). A huge Pro Day can still right the ship, because the tape is impressive. But there are some faint Keon Coleman vibes here right now.

WR Malachi Fields (Notre Dame)

Speaking of which: Like Boston, Fields is a big-bodied X receiver, and like Boston, he was hoping to use his athletic testing to show NFL teams that he had more juice than previously thought. Dead last in the 40 at 4.61 did the exact opposite, unfortunately, and he didn't shine anywhere else enough to make up for it. Fields had the potential to be a sleeper given his big frame and some highlight-reel catches at Notre Dame, but that dream might be dead now.