![\"Defensive](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2172820132-1-e1775613944639.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Defensive back Jermod McCoy #3 of the Tennessee Volunteers is said to be a no-go for the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve been a follower of NFL<\/a> mock drafts in recent weeks\u2013and who isn\u2019t at this time of year?\u2013then you\u2019re surely aware not only that the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> have two first-round picks, at No. 12 and No. 20, but that it\u2019s very likely they will select defensive players with both picks. That makes sense because the Cowboys, after all, were the worst defense in the NFL last year. Moreover, you\u2019ve probably noticed that one name comes up consistently with the Cowboys at No. 12: Tennessee star cornerback Jermod McCoy.<\/p>\n He\u2019s there in Yahoo\u2019s mock draft, as a \u201chigh-upside prospect<\/a>\u201d going at No. 12. Field Yates of ESPN has him landing in Dallas, calling him<\/a>, \u201cOne of the true wild cards in this draft.\u201d Rhett Lewis of NFL.com has McCoy going to Dallas<\/a> after he \u201caced his testing\u201d at his pro day in Knoxville.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a common pick because the Cowboys will need some draft luck to have one of the defensive players considered among the six best\u2013Arvell Reese, David Bailey<\/a>, Sonny Styles, Caleb Downs, Mansoor Delane, Rueben Bain\u2013fall to them on draft night. McCoy is generally considered the best prospect of the second tier of defenders.<\/p>\n Jermod McCoy Suffered ACL Injury in January 2025<\/p>\n But back at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, the Cowboys made clear that they were not interested in adding players in the draft who would need time to adjust to playing in the NFL. The Cowboys, after back-to-back seven-win seasons, are eager to push forward in 2026, and need ready-made players who can fill holes immediately.<\/p>\n McCoy was an excellent corner at Tennessee, but he did not play at all last season after suffering a torn ACL in January 2025. He ran a 4.38 40-yard dash at his pro day this year, and that helped his stock in the eyes of most teams.<\/p>\n Jermod McCoy \u2018Commonly Mocked\u2019 to Cowboys<\/p>\n But not the Cowboys. That\u2019s the assertion of beat reporter Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/a>, who has been writing since February that the Cowboys are out on drafting McCoy, no matter how many times he crops up in mock drafts.<\/p>\n In reporting on players who have taken Top 30 visits with the Cowboys in the run-up of the draft, Harris pointed out that McCoy was not among the players who visited. That does not mean the Cowboys won\u2019t take him, but it is one of many indicators that they\u2019ll look elsewhere.<\/p>\n Wrote Harris on Tuesday<\/a>, \u201cOf note, commonly mocked to the Cowboys, CB Jermod McCoy, was not among the 30 visitors. The Star-Telegram reported after the NFL Combine that he is not expected to be in play for the Cowboys because of his injury history, and that remains the expectation following his Pro Day.\u201d<\/p>\n Cowboys Can\u2019t \u2018Redshirt\u2019 a Draft Pick<\/p>\n McCoy is expected to play this season, and will be 20 months removed from the ACL injury in Week 1. Even if the Cowboys don\u2019t want injured players, it appears likely that McCoy is still too risky for the team.<\/p>\n Team owner Jerry Jones said back<\/a> in February: \u201cWe can\u2019t redshirt a second-round pick. We don\u2019t have a second-round pick to begin with, but if we got one, we can\u2019t redshirt those guys this year. We gotta go\u2026 We got to go this year. We got to have it out there, and when we got to be working it this year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Cowboys\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Defensive back Jermod McCoy #3 of the Tennessee Volunteers is said to be a no-go for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,2461,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-860104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-cowboys","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallascowboys","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116366822864654595","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860104","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=860104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}