Jermod McCoy's Injury Concerns Detailed by Insider in Video Amid 2026 NFL Draft Slide

Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy, a second-team Associated Press All-American in 2024, missed all of 2025 with a torn ACL.

McCoy is fully recovered from the ACL tear, but no teams have selected him in the NFL draft through three rounds.

The reasoning for that may be revealed now, as Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reported that there is an additional concern with McCoy's knee.

"It's not the ACL tear issue, that's fine. But he has a bone plug, which is basically a piece of bone and cartilage, was used to repair a degenerative cartilage issue, in that same knee, and now there is a thought process amongst doctors that this is gonna now have to be replaced again, maybe not immediately, but at some point in the future. And I had one team tell me that, you know, if there's a severe slip, it's because there are some teams that are taking the position that if this next surgery, which would likely knock him out for the entirety of a year, if this next surgery is not successful, it will effectively end his career, because what you're doing to fix it is you're taking a piece of bone and cartilage from somewhere else in that knee that is not necessarily load-bearing, and you're transporting it, to try and fix the defects. So you can't keep doing this over and over again."

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported during the draft that teams have concerns about McCoy's knee (h/t Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News Sentinel).

"(McCoy) clearly is a first-round talent but suffered a knee injury where he tore his ACL, underwent surgery. And obviously there are some teams that have some concerns about that knee right now," Schefter reported. "People think he can step in and impact a roster right away, but there are questions about his longevity in the league.

"For right now, we have a situation where he's still on the board, one of the elite talents in this draft in a spot that nobody thought he would be."

McCoy began his career with Oregon State in 2023 before transferring to Tennessee. In 2024, McCoy amassed nine pass breakups, 44 tackles and four interceptions over 13 starts.

McCoy missed all of 2025 but impressed at Tennessee's pro day with a 4.38 in the 40-yard dash, a 38-inch vertical jump and a 10'7" broad jump, per ESPN's Field Yates.

The B/R NFL Scouting Department listed McCoy second among all cornerbacks and 11th overall on its final big board and 18th on its mock draft. The NFL Mock Draft Database's consensus big board listed McCoy 19th overall. Scouts and analysts clearly feel McCoy has first-round talent and prospects, even with the ACL injury.

Unfortunately, it seems teams have serious concerns about his knee overall. Four rounds remain on Saturday, so we'll see if McCoy finds a new NFL home via the draft soon enough.