Every year, there's one prospect who falls precipitously. Character concerns. Medical questions. Whatever the reason, a player with NFL-ready talent—with the potential even become elite—is left waiting for his chance as franchises unexpectedly drop him down their draft boards or even remove his name altogether.
The 2026 NFL Draft has added another player to the parade of troubled prospects: Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy.
If healthy, McCoy could have supplanted LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane as CB1 in this rookie class. Unfortunately for the Volunteer, opinions about the future of his knee are not good, which has caused his stock to plummet all the way to Day 3—and that's if he gets taken in rounds four through seven at some point.
While the Chiefs have already landed Delane to provide a lockdown option in a rebuilt secondary, the opportunity cost at this point brings up the question as to whether or not McCoy might be worth it. Because the Chiefs have been here before.
What's wrong with Jermod McCoy?
McCoy was widely regarded as a potential top-10 draft talent not too long ago, a 6-0, 193-pound cornerback who had earned first-team All-SEC and second-team AP All-American honors as a sophomore at Tennessee.
However, McCoy's path to draft night was derailed when he tore the ACL in his right knee during a training session in January 2025, forcing him to miss all of last season. Reports projected him to make a full recovery, and he bolstered that belief during his Pro Day at Tennessee on March 31, when he ran a 4.37-second time in the 40-yard dash. He also added a 38-inch vertical, working through several on-field drills without limitation.
But the pre-draft season allows teams to dive deep into potential issues like McCoy's, and what surfaced was very concerning. While the ACL itself is now fully healed, Yahoo! Sports reporter Charles Robinson broke the news that McCoy's knee had also required a repair involving a "bone plug,", which is a procedure that takes a graft of bone and cartilage from a non-load-bearing part of the knee and transplants it into a damaged area.
The concern, per Robinson, is that McCoy is now a roll of the dice going forward. Even if McCoy is good now, the required surgery to fully correct the problem will not only take him out for a full year thereafter, but it's also possible that it ends his career if it doesn't work. In other words, a team might burn a draft pick in the name of hope.
The Trey Smith inspiration
If this story sounds familiar to you as a Chiefs fan, you're onto something.
In 2021, the Chiefs took such a risk on a player whose draft stock had tumbled so far that he'd become the primary talking point of draft analysts on Day 3. Trey Smith, who also happened to be a Tennessee alum, was a menacing offensive lineman who projected to be an above-average interior lineman from the moment he first stepped onto the field at the NFL level, but he went unselected for five full rounds.
Smith had developed blood clots in his lungs during the 2018 season, which kept him out of spring practice and eventually forced him to miss the final five games of the year after doctors feared a recurrence. Blood thinners were used to manage any potential issue, which allowed him to continue to play. But some teams had removed him from their boards entirely.
The Chiefs decided that Round 6 was a good place to try to thread such a needle and the rest is history. Smith is not only a Pro Bowl lineman, but he's now one of the highest-paid offensive linemen in the NFL.
But what about Justyn Ross?
At the same time, the Chiefs have also interacted with such a story from the opposite angle. Justyn Ross was a heralded wide receiver out of Clemson whose freshman season had everyone raving about his professional future. But numerous injury concerns, ranging from his neck/spine to his foot, brought the "buyer beware" tag.
Every team in the NFL passed on him over the course of seven full rounds, but the Chiefs managed to convince him to sign with them as an undrafted free agent. To his credit, he was able to make the active roster more than once, but his career largely panned out as expected, given the draft behavior of the consensus. The injuries had robbed him of whatever exciting potential that once existed, and he ended up catching a total of six passes in the NFL.
What does this mean for McCoy?
It's possible that McCoy is the first player off the board in round four when the third and final day of the 2026 draft begins. It's also possible that he slides all the way to free agent status. It's impossible to tell what franchises are thinking internally or what their own medical reports revealed in pre-draft examinations.
For their part, the Chiefs have already grabbed a top-tier cornerback—best in the class—in Delane and have other needs to address for a depleted roster. Then again, they've rolled the day three dice before on such a risk and are happily paying him to maul opposing linemen every week. At some point, the juice could be worth the squeeze.
The Chiefs have four draft choices remaining—one in the fourth round (No. 109), two in the fifth (No. 148 and 176, and one in the sixth (No. 210). Wide receiver, tight end, safety, linebacker, and running back are all viable positions to address. Then again, no player drafted in these rounds come with the possible upside that McCoy would bring. Would Brett Veach be willing to take such a chance once again?
Therein lies the mystery of the draft, which is why so many of us watch the drama unfold in real time when the only action served up is the reading of names at a podium. And fans will be listening for McCoy's name, to see when it's called, if at all, and which team is ready for the ride.
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