With the NFL regular season and postseason officially in the rear-view mirror, we now have a clear road map of the first-round draft order for the 2025 NFL Draft coming up this spring. As championship wrap-ups and way-too-early future projections swarm the media landscape over the coming days and weeks, many will soon turn their primary focus to the draft and the prospects that make up the ’26 class.
Tennessee appears to have two potential first-round prospects in this year’s class. It starts with Jermod McCoy, the standout cornerback who missed the entire 2025 season with an ACL tear. McCoy has been widely viewed as a first-round pick and even a potential Top 15 player this offseason, even despite his injury.
The breakout player that has been rising up draft boards is cornerback Colton Hood. The former Colorado transfer spent one season at Tennessee and played well enough to put his name on the map. Post-season analysis and a strong Senior Bowl showing have seemingly cemented Hood in many first-round mocks across the landscape. Perhaps Tennessee wide receiver Chris Brazzell vaults himself into the first-round category in the coming months, but it appears to be just McCoy and Hood for now.
Both cornerbacks landed inside the Top 18 picks in Mike Renner’s post-Super Bowl mock draft for CBS Sports on Monday.
McCoy is the first of the two off the board for Renner, landing at No. 12 with the Dallas Cowboys. McCoy has frequently shown up in the 10-12 range involving Cincinnati, Miami, and Dallas.
“McCoy had some of the best sophomore tape at corner I’ve seen in the past decade,” Renner writes. “The problem is that was the last time we saw him after he missed all of 2025 with a torn ACL suffered last January. He’d give Dallas and new defensive coordinator Christian Parker the ability to play far more man and man-match coverage than they did last year.”
Renner has LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane going one spot ahead of McCoy to Miami. It’s been widely considered a two-horse race between the two for the first corner off the board, and McCoy’s measurements and medical data in the coming month could push him above. It’s also, obviously, about team preference.
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Renner has Colton Hood going 18th overall to the Minnesota Vikings. After being elevated to the Vols’ top corner following Rickey Gibson III’s season-ending injury early in the year, Hood thrived at the spot. He racked up 50 tackles, one forced fumble, one recovery, one interception, and two touchdowns on the season, while going up against some of the top receivers in the SEC.
“Hood was a breakout star for the Volunteers after transferring from Colorado,” Renner writes. “He’s physical at the line of scrimmage and boasts some of the best deep speed at the position in the class.”
Tennessee has not had two first-round draft picks since the 2010 NFL Draft, when Eric Berry went 5th overall and Dan Williams went 26th overall. That looks like it could be changing this spring, though.
The 2026 NFL Draft will begin on Thursday, April 23. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee draft coverage.
