One hundred picks into the 2026 NFL Draft, Jermod McCoy has not heard his name called. Six months ago, many scouts had him penciled in as a top-10 selection.
The Tennessee cornerback was considered one of the best defensive backs in this draft class despite missing his entire 2025 season with an ACL tear. The injury alone was not enough to bury him in the eyes of most evaluators. What buried him was what came next.
Early this week, it began circulating among personnel departments that McCoy's knee involved more than a repaired ligament. According to Yahoo Sports, the procedure also included a "bone plug" repair, a technique that takes a graft of bone and cartilage from a non-load-bearing section of the knee and transplants it into a damaged area. That kind of repair carries long-term risk. Over time, it can require re-operation and lead to chronic cartilage problems that end careers.
A team source described the concern as threefold. McCoy could require immediate surgery after being drafted, costing a team his entire rookie season. He could need another procedure further down the road, again eating into prime playing years. Or, in the worst case, the cartilage issues prove permanent and his NFL career ends far earlier than expected.
The comparison being made around the league is to Will Johnson, the Michigan cornerback who slid from projected top pick to the 47th overall selection in 2025 due to his own chronic knee concerns. McCoy's fall has gone further. Johnson at least landed in the second round. As of Saturday, McCoy remains on the board entirely.
There were earlier warning signs that something was wrong. When McCoy did not return to play any part of the 2025 season, despite initial expectations that he might, league personnel began asking questions. Whether the knee was worse than publicly disclosed, healing more slowly than hoped, or simply more complicated than the original diagnosis suggested was not immediately clear. The answer, it turns out, was more complicated.
McCoy last played in December 2024, when he suffered the ACL tear in his right knee during his junior season with the Volunteers. He was 20 years old and widely projected to be one of the first cornerbacks off the board whenever he declared for the draft. The talent evaluation never changed. The medical one did.
He could still be selected on Saturday, in the draft's final rounds, but at a fraction of the draft capital and guaranteed money he would have commanded at the top of round one. Whatever happens, the gap between where McCoy was projected to land and where he actually lands will rank among the steepest falls in recent draft history.
