The NFL Draft is only a handful of days away, and Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy remains one of the bigger first-round talking points before the start of the event on Thursday. When watching his game tape, McCoy stands out as one of the best players in this draft class. The problem, though, is that the game tape is from the 2024 season. McCoy did not play a snap during Tennessee’s 2025 season after tearing his ACL in January 2025.
Despite the injury, though, McCoy has been widely projected as a first-round draft pick in the range of 12-20 over the last few months. But with the draft drawing near at the end of the week, some news is starting to come out that spells a troubling outlook for McCoy’s first-round hopes.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer did a full write-up on McCoy during his Monday Morning QB article. He starts out the post by saying that if there’s one player who might tumble on Thursday, it’s McCoy.
“I feel terrible for him, because this one is beyond his control—and I said a week ago I think he has a chance to go in the top 10,” Breer writes. “Since then, every team I’ve talked to—every last one of them—has said that the knee he tore up in January 2025 remains a major concern.”
If there are split thoughts on McCoy’s health status, that’s one thing. It just takes one team to feel good enough to draft him, after all. But Breer’s report that every team he’s spoken to has the same, or at least similar, concerns about McCoy is troubling news.
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Breer also writes that “the question isn’t whether he’ll be ready to go when he joins his new team next week,” but more so the issue of longevity. He compares McCoy’s situation to that of Will Johnson, who was a two-time All-American at Michigan and the Defensive MVP of the Wolverines’ national title win. Johnson was a first-round prospect who wound up sliding to the middle of the second round to the Arizona Cardinals last year because of a knee injury.
“The positive on McCoy is that he’s seen by many as a better prospect than Johnson was, and he sparkled at his pro day after missing all of 2025 with the knee injury—posting a 40-yard dash in the 4.3s, a 38″ vertical and 10’7″ broad jump,” Breer writes. “He also feels great right now, I’m told, and will be ready to roll for the team that drafts him. But that, again, isn’t the question. The question is more about how long he lasts.”
Breer says that it’s possible McCoy falls out of the first round on Thursday. He also says that the best-case scenario is that “a playoff team sees a potential No. 1 corner, even if he doesn’t make it to a second contract, as a better value than what’s available at the end of the first round.”
McCoy will be one of the big mysteries of Thursday night’s coverage. There’s no doubt that the talent he’s shown rivals some of the top players in the class, but the red flags around his health have seemingly not gone away at any point. It’s a tough situation for a player who was so talented for Tennessee during the 2024 season.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for full NFL Draft coverage this week and during the first round on Thursday night.
