Raiders select Jermod McCoy, Tennessee CB, with No. 101 pick in 2026 NFL Draft

AlabamaArizonaBYUGeorgiaGeorgia TechHoustonIndianaIowaJames MadisonMiami (FL)MichiganNorth TexasNotre DameOhio StateOklahomaOle MissOregonTexas A&MTexasTexas TechTulaneUSCUtahVanderbiltVirginiaScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsNewsletterRecruitingOddsPicksBest Portal Classes2026 CFB PredictionsEarly Top 25Transfer QB Rankings2026 NFL Draft Jermod McCoy missed all of 2025 after tearing his ACL, but was one of the best corners in college football in 2024. Brian Bahr / Getty Images Share article3The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft. The Las Vegas Raiders drafted Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy with the 101st pick in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft. He was the 12th cornerback taken. McCoy left Oregon State after his freshman season and was a plug-and-play starter at Tennessee, blossoming into a lockdown cornerback specializing in man coverage who earned All-America honors and was a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award as a sophomore in 2024. His encore never happened, though. He tore the ACL in his right knee in January 2025 during offseason training and didn’t play another snap at Tennessee. There was some optimism he might return at some point during the season, but he hasn’t played a football game since Dec. 21, 2024. He has been medically cleared, but the gap since taking the field seems like a reasonable concern, though he was excellent in 2024. He allowed just 31 completions on 62 targets for 386 yards, and allowed the 12th-lowest passer rating among cornerbacks with 350 snaps in 2024. He broke up nine passes and picked off four. McCoy was a projected first-round pick, but lingering concerns about his injury dropped him to the fourth round on Saturday. League sources told The Athletic that there is a belief he has a cartilage issue that could require surgery. Lemon ranked No. 14 overall and as the No. 2 cornerback on Dane Brugler’s big board. Here’s what Brugler had to say about him in his annual NFL Draft guide: “McCoy needs to hone his discipline to hold up versus NFL competition, but he is a twitchy mover with the spatial instincts and ball skills to create plays in coverage. If there are no concerns with his knee, he should be an early NFL starter as a rookie.” Missed 2025 with a torn ACL, but looked like an NFL starter pre-injury. Here’s what an NFL defensive backs coach had to say about McCoy in Bruce Feldman’s latest draft intel: “I’ve got a hard time in two phases. One: It sounds like the knee is worse than what people thought, and two, if it isn’t as bad as what people think, then he probably didn’t come back as soon as he could’ve. But from a traits standpoint, he’s what you’re hunting. He should be the top guy off the ’24 tape. He’s long, has ball skills, he plays with vision, he reacts and responds well with what he sees, he has good top-end speed, and it’s not just long speed. He has quickness and really good change-of-direction ability. He’s like a fish in water. He’s such a fluid mover.” Come back later for more analysis of McCoy. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms