Jermod McCoy is dealing with a heartbreaking situation out of his control, but his team didn’t help him out the way it should have
Former Tennessee Volunteers cornerback Jermod McCoy wasn’t selected on the first two days of the 2026 NFL Draft despite being widely viewed by NFL Draft analysts as a top 10 talent.
Former Tennessee Vols cornerback Jermod McCoy wasn’t selected in the first three rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft.
McCoy, once viewed as a likely top 10 selection, will hope to hear his name called on Day 3 of the draft.
The former Vol has slipped in the draft due to new concerns over his knee.
According to a report this week from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, there’s a chance that McCoy could require a second surgery on his knee (he tore his ACL after the 2024 season, causing him to miss all of 2025).
“Let’s talk about what this is and what it is not,” said Pelissero. “It’s not the ACL that he had reconstructed. My understanding is the ACL itself is fine. All the scans look good.
“The concern is about a bone plug that was used to repair a cartilage defect in his knee. Some of the doctors that have seen his scans are concerned that he will need another surgery to replace that bone plug, which would be an extensive recovery.”
Yahoo Sports analyst Charles Robinson noted after the third round of the draft that a second surgery for McCoy — for the bone plug issue — could end his career if it’s not successful.
Jermod McCoy’s situation is heartbreaking, but his team didn’t help him out enough this week
McCoy’s situation is truly unfortunate. The Texas native tore his ACL while working out shortly after the 2024 season wrapped up. At the time, he was a 19-year-old rising junior who some analysts thought would’ve been the top cornerback in the 2025 NFL Draft had he been eligible.
Now, because of that knee injury, McCoy will be a Day 3 selection at best. And his NFL career could be in jeopardy depending on how his knee holds up.
The narrative right now is that McCoy is damaged goods at a position where explosiveness is key. And that’s the only narrative out there because McCoy’s team (agents, advisers, etc) didn’t try to push back this week on the report about his knee. There was no clarity provided by anyone from his team, either directly or via leaks to the media, about when a second surgery could be needed, how long the recovery would be, or even the chances that a second surgery won‘t be needed. There was no push back at all — there was no one advocating for McCoy when this report came out the week of the draft!
Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference. NFL teams, after all, have the information they need about McCoy’s knee.
But public perception matters to teams (it matters to some teams more than they admit publicly). If McCoy’s team had pushed back against Pelissero’s report, maybe it would’ve made a team comfortable enough to select McCoy in the second round. Hopefully McCoy stays healthy and has a long NFL career, but if you’re an NFL team with a second round pick and a need at cornerback, why not take a chance on arguably the most talented cornerback in the draft? If a team drafts McCoy, who ran well at his Pro Day, and gets two to three seasons of high-level cornerback play on the cheap before he needs a surgery, wouldn’t that be a huge win?
McCoy’s agent, for what it’s worth, has a reputation around the NFL for being a “pain in the ass”. There was criticism around the league, for example, for advising McCoy to not participate in the combine.
“I do want to make this point, and it’s not just because Jermod McCoy hasn’t worked out…we’ll see how he works out at Tennessee’s Pro Day, assuming he does,” said longtime draft analyst Todd McShay in March. “My gosh, people in the league are so fed up with his agent. And it’s none my business, but it’s the same thing I said to Shemar Stewart last year: They work for you.
“I’m not gonna mention names — his agent is one of the best in the business at representing players. And [he] is a total pain in the ass, and people in the league hate him because he’s a pain in the ass and does a good job by his clients for the most part. But there are some things that occur during the process that I don’t think send a favorable message.”
More could’ve been done to control the narrative around McCoy this week. No one knows how much it would’ve helped, but there was certainly no downside to giving it a better effort.