We’re officially less than a week away from the 2026 NFL Draft, which will kick off from Pittsburgh on April 23. The event will begin with the first round on Thursday night, the second and third rounds on Friday night, and the final four rounds on Saturday afternoon.
In Josh Heupel’s five seasons at Tennessee, the Vols have sent five players to the NFL through the draft on two different occasions. Tennessee had five NFL Draft picks in 2022 and 2023, four picks in 2025, and three picks in 2024. If all goes according to projections this year, the Vols could tie their record with five picks next week in Pittsburgh.
ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. released his final mock draft on Wednesday with an expanded two-round list. He has three former Volunteers going in the Top 64 selections, with two first-round projections and one second-round projection. There is a catch, though, as he has one VFL sliding a good bit from typical projections.
The first Volunteer off the board in Kiper’s mock draft is Jermod McCoy. The Tennessee cornerback has widely been tagged in the 12-15 range through the pre-draft process, but Kiper has McCoy going No. 24 overall to the Cleveland Browns. He doesn’t mention the reason for the slide, but the big story around McCoy has been his ACL injury recovery.
“This could be a good draft day for Cleveland,” Kiper writes. “[Kadyn] Proctor and [Denzel] Boston would tick the two biggest need boxes, and finding McCoy — one of the top cornerback prospects in the class — at No. 24 would be the cherry on top. Of course, McCoy hasn’t played a football game since 2024; he tore his ACL in January 2025 and sat out all of last season. But the tape is really good, and his ball skills (six interceptions in two seasons at Oregon State and Tennessee) are tremendous.”
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Just a small handful of picks later, Kiper has Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood going No. 29 overall to the Kansas City Chiefs. Hood put together a strong season in Knoxville during his lone year with the Vols, but has really elevated his status through solid showings at the Senior Bowl, the NFL Combine, and the Tennessee Pro Day.
“Hood is long and physical, and he had 17 pass breakups over the past two seasons,” Kiper writes. “Kansas City could still add to the position beyond Hood with one or two of its seven remaining picks outside Round 1.”
The final Tennessee player in Kiper’s mock draft is wide receiver Chris Brazzell II, who is tagged at No. 63 overall to the Super Bowl runner-up New England Patriots in the second round. Brazzell had a true breakout season with the Volunteers last year, and helped his case by putting together an ultra-impressive 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine last month. Brazzell has been widely viewed as a late-second or third-round pick.
“It’s still possible that the Patriots trade for A.J. Brown, which would obviously take the wide receiver room to another level,” Kiper writes. “Even so, Brazzell ran a 4.37 at 6-4 and 198 pounds, and he finished last season with 1,017 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 16.4 yards per catch. New England should be eager to add pass catchers with physical traits and production like that, as third-year quarterback Drake Maye needs more playmakers.”
As previously mentioned, there are five former Vols likely to be drafted next week in Pittsburgh. If you go back to ESPN’s seven-round mock draft from April 1, you’ll also find EDGE Joshua Josephs projected to the Houston Texans in the fourth round and DL Bryson Eason projected to the Green Bay Packers in the sixth round. We’ll see if any notable unprojected players, such as QB Joey Aguilar, TE Miles Kitselman, and DB Jalen McMurray, make their way into the seven-round fold.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more NFL Draft coverage next week.
