Roughly this is my current wiring diagram. 
The Mean Well driver that I am using is the HLG-185H-36B. Output 36v DC, max current 5.2A. The Cobs are 36V and have a max operating current of 2.76A, however, I am running them at around ~1.44A (Max). The Mean Well driver has the ability to adjust volt/current which I do have setup to a 100k ohm Linear POT.
What I am worried about is if a COB fails. I'd like to add overcurrent protection at the nodes that I marked with (NODE#) so that no more than 1.7A-2A could be drawn.
I also am concerned about thermal runaway, details more here (there is a section that talks about it more in-depth) http://ledgardener.com/constant-current-vs-constant-voltage-drivers/
What are my options to protect the circuit so the COB LEDs don't overdraw current in either the event of 1 or more cobs failing and/or thermal runaway? Thank you!
Best Answer
First off, the Mean Well driver you named is a constant current driver.
You shouldn't be driving LEDs in parallel from a constant current source.
You should have LEDs in series to reach the voltage range of the current source. Since your COBs already have LEDs in series to make up 36V, you need one driver for each COB.
The named driver is overkill for a single COB, and driving the COBs in parallel is asking for trouble. You've already discovered the problems, hence your question.
The correct thing to do would be to use a driver for each COB, and each driver matched to the current needed for each COB. Doing otherwise is just looking for problems, and it will probably be more expensive and still not do an adequate job if one of the COBs dies (or just loses contact for a moment.)