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Tennessee Volunteers star Jermod McCoy may well be the most talented cornerback in the entire 2026 NFL Draft. And yet as the draft nears, there are concerns that McCoy could slide all the way out of the first round.
After dominating as a sophomore in 2024 for the Vols, McCoy missed the entire 2025 season after suffering a torn ACL. He then opted not to work out at the NFL Scouting Combine and did limited work at Tennessee’s Pro Day.
McCoy did, notably, run the 40-yard dash at the Volunteers’ Pro Day, with hand times clocking him anywhere from 4.38 to 4.45 seconds, among the best in the class.
But there are still lingering concerns over his lateral mobility following the injury. Those concerns only grew larger this week amid reports that he could need a second surgery on his knee.
Jermod McCoy Could Need Surgery To Repair Bone Plug After NFL Draft
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, multiple team doctors fear that McCoy could need a second surgery to the knee in which he suffered a torn ACL.
This surgery would be to repair the bone plug that doctors initially placed in order to repair a cartilage defect in the knee.
During an ACL repair, surgeons create bone tunnels in the femur and tibia, then pull a graft from the patellar tendon through the tunnels before securing the bone plugs with screws.
In certain cases, doing so can cause continued cartilage defects, which then need to be surgically repaired in their own right.
Jermod McCoy
This would be a potentially significant surgery and would likely knock them out for the entire year.
The expert at doing these is Dr. Dan Cooper, who happens to be the team doctor for the Dallas Cowboys
Several NFL players have had their surgery and have had very… https://t.co/0Twkzol0wg
— Jesse Morse, M.D. (@DrJesseMorse) April 21, 2026
According to Dr. Jesse Morse, a popular figure on social media who regularly addresses sports injuries, this second surgery would cost McCoy the entirety of his rookie season.
The good news, however, is that Morse points out that several players have had the second procedure done and have gone on to have successful careers. The bad news, though, is that the fear is possible to send McCoy, once a projected top-10 pick, tumbling all the way out of Thursday’s first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.