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The Raiders selected Jermod McCoy, a highly-rated cornerback, in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft after trading up. ESPN's Matt Miller named him the second biggest steal of the draft due to concerns over his knee.
After the first two days of the draft, teams get a chance to sleep on it before revisiting the remaining picks for day three. Among those remaining picks, there was one prospect sticking out like a sore thumb. Tennessee's Jermod McCoy, whose pre-draft ranking had him as a potential top ten pick in the draft was still there. And it was revealed that concerns about McCoy's knee was the reason why.
The Raiders literally jumped at the chance to get the talented cornerback, trading a 2027 seventh round pick to Buffalo to move up one spot to ensure they landed him.
While many teams had removed McCoy from their boards altogether, the Raiders had not. They only waited until they thought the potential return on talent matched the risk in draft capital. Turned out round four was that time.
The made the pick to the delight of many draft analysts, including ESPN's Matt Miller who named McCoy as the second biggest steal of the draft.
There's always a really good player who slips due to injury. Ranked as my No. 10 overall prospect, McCoy fell to No. 101 based on concerns that a surgical procedure he had done following a January 2025 ACL tear might need to be redone. But McCoy was cleared to work out at Tennessee's pro day and excelled with a 40-yard dash time of 4.38 seconds. Las Vegas aggressively attacked its secondary needs, but getting McCoy here could be the weekend's biggest steal if he's healthy. It was a smart bet to make and shows that general manager John Spytek is correctly thinking about risk, value and potential.
The Cowboys landing number three overall prospect Caleb Down at pick 11 was the only player viewed as a bigger steal in Miller's view.
Jermod McCoy was highly regarded for his talent and skills as a cornerback, which initially positioned him as a potential top ten pick.
Concerns about McCoy's knee health caused many teams to remove him from their draft boards, impacting his selection.
The Raiders traded a 2027 seventh round pick to Buffalo to move up one spot and secure Jermod McCoy.
ESPN's Matt Miller recognized Jermod McCoy as the second biggest steal of the draft due to his potential and the circumstances surrounding his selection.
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In another piece put out by ESPN on Thursday, they took a look at Spytek's feeling on McCoy and his selection at 101 overall.
Las Vegas did extensive homework on the injury, and, at least as of now, the team is optimistic about his chances to play in 2026 and avoid a redshirt season or immediate surgery. Perhaps he needs a procedure sometime in the future, but the team is hopeful he can avoid that in the short term, with the caveat that it must get him in the building for the offseason program and see how he's progressing.
What it comes down to is NFL teams are risk averse and very protective of their draft picks. Especially in the first three rounds. Spytek had a strong feeling he wasn't the only one who thought McCoy was worth the risk at the top of the fourth round, which is what prompted him to move up one spot to ensure another team didn't do it and take McCoy. After all, if he's right, the Raiders may have landed one of the top cornerback prospects in this draft. And if he's wrong, no one is going to be making a fuss over using a fourth round pick on him to find out.
Other Raiders picks ESPN listed among their best picks of this year included Number one overall pick QB Fernando Mendoza (nine) and round two pick S Treydan Stukes (59).
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders Day 3 pick named 2nd biggest steal of 2026 NFL Draft by ESPN