One of the Dolphins’ biggest looming roster needs this winter just got a major boost as a top name is now officially set to become available

A top talent is now set to be out there for the taking — but with some fine print that could scare Dolphins fans.

Kyle Crabbs — NFL National Writer

Dec 10, 2025 9:16 PM EST

Each and every NFL Draft class is a snowflake. it is unique in its own way. And for the 2026 class, the top of the charts per projections leave a little less in the way of confidence than you’d usually like to see. For the Miami Dolphins, it helps to soften the blow of what looked like an early draft pick in the making as the Dolphins sat at 1-6 after an ugly loss at the hands of the Cleveland Browns.

Miami’s got bigger fish to fry in the meantime, as they’re trying to save jobs and keep confidence in the group in place after splitting with former general manager Chris Grier at the end of October. Mike McDaniel’s job is firmly in the crosshairs — he’ll need his team to finish strong. When the time comes to shift focus to the 2026 NFL Draft and the prospects available, we’ll be able to point to today as a major development in one of Miami’s biggest positions of need. We’ve seen a big name enter the 2026 NFL Draft.

Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy enters 2026 NFL Draft, could be a strong fit for Dolphins

Some Dolphins fans are, instinctively going to flinch or recoil at the idea of drafting Tennessee Volunteers cornerback Jermod McCoy. Not because he’s a Volunteer cornerback, which Miami flopped hard on when they drafted Jason Allen in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft. No, instead, the concern for many Dolphins fans will be that McCoy did not play a single snap of football in 2025, as he was rehabbing from a January 2025 ACL tear suffered while training in the offseason. A former Oregon State Beaver, McCoy started at Tennessee as a sophomore and was named first-team All-SEC.

He’s a strong fit for Miami. He’s a physical player with great ball skills — he logged 6 interceptions and an additional 16 passes defensed across his two seasons of college play. He’s a strong tackler as well and projects as a scheme-transcendent talent. There aren’t many of those in the 2026 class. The 6-foot, 195 pound junior cornerback appears to be a potential blue chipper if you can get past the medicals.

But given that he’s not played in a year, some Dolphins fans will have flashbacks of the Grier era in Miami, which too often was littered with players who couldn’t stay on the field and betrayed the Dolphins with their availability. It soiled several strong rosters as a result, which will leave Dolphins fans regrettably looking back on missed opportunities and likely resistant to the idea of investing major assets into players with injury tags.

I can’t tell you that the Dolphins should, in fact, draft McCoy. There’s a lot of ball game left between now and the draft. Plenty can, and will, change. One thing that won’t? We won’t see McCoy play any more college football before the NFL Draft.

Cornerback isn’t necessarily the need it was once perceived to be in Miami, but the long-term outlook of the position is rocky, to say the least. Rasul Douglas? Playing outstanding. But he’s on a one-year deal. So, too, is Jack Jones. Injured Kader Kohou was under contract in 2025 on a one-year deal, too. Miami’s cornerback room will be wide open at the end of the offseason.

Wide open could mean someone like McCoy makes sense. And his availability in the 2026 NFL Draft sets the stage for Miami to consider him or, if they keep winning, see someone else that doesn’t have a medical redshirt year on their resume fall into their lap two. This news can be a win in more ways than one.