The first big wave of NFL free agency has caused some massive ripples across the 32-team landscape as teams build their rosters for next season. Some teams have patched holes that otherwise would’ve needed the draft to fix, while other teams are left figuring out the best college players on the market to fill out the rest of their squads.
Tennessee Football’s Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood have widely been projected as first-round picks in the draft this spring. McCoy has been pretty definitive in the Top 32 picks, while Hood has been a fringe player who has leaned into the first round more often than not lately.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. released his post-free agency NFL mock draft on Tuesday and tagged both McCoy and Hood as first-round draft picks. He’s got McCoy as the first Tennessee player off the board, going to the Dallas Cowboys with the No. 12 pick overall.
“McCoy doesn’t come without questions; he tore an ACL in January 2025, sat out the season and then didn’t work out at the combine,” Kiper writes. “But he can flat-out play when he’s on the field. McCoy had four interceptions in 2024. If Dallas likes what it sees at his March 31 pro day, this could be a smart pick.”
This projection is an interesting one. While Dallas does desperately need cornerback help after a league-worst 7.3 passing yards per dropback last season, local reporters for the Cowboys have indicated that the team may not be that interested in McCoy. On Mar. 2, Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote that he’s crossing off McCoy’s name from the list of candidates that he believes the Cowboys are interested in, based on conversations that he heard at the NFL Draft Combine.
Still, though, McCoy could have a big showing at Tennessee Pro Day at the end of the month and prove some of the doubters wrong. But until then, Dallas might not be incredibly prepared to use its 12th overall pick on a player who hasn’t played since 2024.
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Kiper then projects Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood to the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks with the final pick of the first round.
“Twenty picks after Jermod McCoy came off the board, another Tennessee corner closes out Round 1 of this mock draft,” Kiper writes. “Hood fits perfectly with the Mike Macdonald defense as a cornerback with length and decent speed, and while he had only one interception in 2025, he broke up 10 passes.”
Hood has been one of the big risers since the draft evaluation process began. The former Colorado transfer put together a highly talked-about showing at the Senior Bowl and followed that up with a strong performance at the NFL Combine, which has both continued to increase his draft stock. Once looked at as the No. 6 cornerback in the class, Hood has now worked his way into first-round conversations and has reportedly impressed in team interviews.
The next time we see Hood and McCoy will be during Tennessee Pro Day on Mar. 31 in Knoxville. The first round of the 2026 NFL Draft will then take place on Thursday, Apr. 23 in Pittsburgh.
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