{"id":855232,"date":"2026-04-05T14:53:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/855232\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:53:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:53:22","slug":"how-tennessees-jermod-mccoy-saved-the-cowboys-draft-plan-inside-the-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/855232\/","title":{"rendered":"How Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy Saved the Cowboys Draft Plan \u00bb Inside The Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, the Tennessee Volunteers held their Pro Day<\/a>, and all eyes were on cornerback and likely first-round pick, Jermod McCoy; a few days later, the discourse on the Dallas Cowboys draft plan has turned, and rightfully so.<\/p>\n

McCoy, a 20-year-old Tyler, Texas native, had been heavily mocked to Dallas for the past few weeks, but that wasn\u2019t always met with positive responses from fans.<\/p>\n

Why? Well, that\u2019s because McCoy hasn\u2019t actually played in a football game since December 12th, 2022, when the Vols got smacked down by Ohio State in the first-round of the College Football Playoffs.<\/p>\n

Just one month later, in January 2025, McCoy tore his ACL, and he chose to shut down any chance of playing for Tennessee again, instead prioritizing rehab for the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

14 months later, that decision seems to have proven to be positive, and one that may have saved Dallas\u2019s draft \u2014 allow me to explain why.<\/p>\n

1. You Can Feel Good About Jermod McCoy at 12<\/p>\n

The first thing on this list is fairly obvious: you can feel good about drafting McCoy at 12 after this Pro Day performance.<\/p>\n

\"Rocky<\/p>\n

Jermod McCoy Pro Day\ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n

40: 4.38
Vert: 38\u201d
Broad: 10\u20197\u201d <\/p>\n

Drafting a guy who we hadn\u2019t seen on the field since December 2024 was going to be a hard sell for many, though Dallas may not have had a choice if the picks ahead didn\u2019t go their way.<\/p>\n

Of course, testing isn\u2019t the same as being on the field and in pads, but this is a huge deal. McCoy showed elite speed and explosion in his broad and vertical jumps, which is 99% of what you worry about following an ACL injury and long rehab.<\/p>\n

His talent from 2024 didn\u2019t magically leave him, even if there will be some rust to knock off, and any fears of a decline in athletic ability post-injury are gone.<\/p>\n

Jermod McCoy is no longer a reach at 12.<\/p>\n

2. As Jermod McCoy\u2019s Stock Increases, the Chances of a Depleted Board at 12 Plummet<\/p>\n

Additionally, this rise in McCoy\u2019s stock gives the Cowboys a huge boost in what was previously a major concern and possibility: a completely depleted board at 12th overall.<\/p>\n

Those nightmare scenarios of no Rueben Bain, no David Bailey, no Caleb Downs, and no Mansoor Delane? That\u2019s no longer a bad dream, as you can send in McCoy\u2019s name and feel pretty damn good about it.<\/p>\n

He gives Dallas another option outside of the Keldric Faulk, CJ Allen, Dillon Thieneman, or the best offensive player available group that was staring them dead in the eyes if there was an early defensive run.<\/p>\n

According to Underdog Mock Draft<\/a>, there is an 87% chance that one of Bain, Bailey, Delane, Downs, Sonny Styles, or McCoy makes it to the Cowboys\u2019 first pick. Take McCoy out of that group, and those odds plummet to 32%.<\/p>\n

3. If Jermod McCoy Keeps Rising, Elite Talent Could be Pushed Down to 12<\/p>\n

Lastly, I have to touch on a scenario that very few, if any, would have predicted before McCoy\u2019s Pro Day: what if he sends one of those top talents down the board because he was drafted ahead of the Cowboys?<\/p>\n

Previously, his ceiling was likely 12 to Dallas. Now, if you told me the New Orleans Saints fell in love with him and drafted him at 8, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised.<\/p>\n

We saw this happen in 2021, as then-South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn shot up draft boards late and ended up being drafted ahead of Alabama star Patrick Surtain II.<\/p>\n

\"Warren<\/p>\n

the top of the 2021 draft was ELITE<\/p>\n

1 Trevor Lawrence
2 Zach Wilson
3 Trey Lance
4 Kyle Pitts
5 Ja\u2019Marr Chase
6 Jaylen Waddle
7 Penei Sewell
8 Jaycee Horn
9 Patrick Surtain II
10 DeVonta Smith
11 Justin Fields
12 Micah Parsons
13 Rashawn Slater
14 Alijah Vera-Tucker
15 Mac Jones<\/p>\n

Dallas was banking on just one of the two being available, but Horn\u2019s rise into the top eight pushed other talent down the board, and the Cowboys were able to select future All-Pro Micah Parsons with the 12th pick.<\/p>\n

Could we see lightning strike twice with Jermod McCoy pushing down a talent like Caleb Downs, who then dominates in Dallas? It\u2019s much more possible than you may think.<\/p>\n

Was this helpful?<\/p>\n

Thanks for your feedback!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday, the Tennessee Volunteers held their Pro Day, and all eyes were on cornerback and likely first-round…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[4955,3334,230,229,257,437,2461,7,7489,6,15,116822,1541],"class_list":{"0":"post-855232","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-cornerback","10":"tag-cowboys","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-cowboys","13":"tag-dallas-cowboys-draft","14":"tag-dallascowboys","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-jermod-mccoy","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-nfl-draft","19":"tag-tennessee-pro-day","20":"tag-tennessee-volunteers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}