Potential top-10 pick just confirmed himself as a 2026 NFL Draft target of the Cincinnati Bengals
Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy’s pro day results are exactly what the Cincinnati Bengals wanted to see.
Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy had his pro day Tuesday in front of NFL personnel, and he checked the boxes that were previously blank.
McCoy was timed running a 4.38 40-yard dash, and jumped 38″ and 127″, respectively, on the vertical and broad jumps.
This is huge for McCoy as he missed all of the 2025 season with a torn ACL, and did not perform any athleticism testing at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine. Clubs have access to GPS data and other information to gauge in-game athleticism, but after suffering a major injury, it was important for McCoy to confirm he can still move like he did on tape.
He proved he can, and for the Cincinnati Bengals, this could be what they needed to see from him leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft.
Jermod McCoy is now a definitive target for the Bengals
McCoy running that fast not only confirms he still has that NFL-caliber speed, it proves he’s fast enough for Cincinnati to value with a first-round pick.
Much like it was significant for LSU CB Mansoor Delane to clock a sub 4.4 40 time, McCoy doing that same with slightly more size to him is huge. The Bengals cherish speed in their corners, as evidenced by their most recent top picks at the position. Dax Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt each cleared the 4.4 threshold. DJ Turner II went under 4.3.
Delane’s pro day results vaulted him into the top-10 conversation, and with a clean injury history and 2025 tape to take into account, there’s a good chance he goes off the board before McCoy.
Cincinnati can now feel more comfortable investing the No. 10 pick in McCoy as the second corner off the board in that scenario, or even consider him as CB1 if Delane is still there as well.
The Bengals are going to target a CB early in the draft. Turner and Hill are locked in as starters, but are also eligible for contract extensions and at least one of them may be off the roster next year if talks break down later this offseason.
McCoy just made sure he’ll be a central figure of that conversation, if he wasn’t already.
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