NFL Draft 2026 Recap: Red Flag Prospect Outcomes
Looking at the NFL 2026 Draft outcomes of some of the prospects who carried injury concerns - including Jermod McCoy, Caleb Banks, Francis Mauigoa.
I did medical reports on 120 prospects during the pre-draft process which you can find in my archive here on Lions Wire . There were many players who had moderate-to-high medical concerns that could have led to a slip in the draft. The Lions stayed on the safe side with all their draft selections , but other teams were willing to take on higher risk for the potential of higher rewards.
Let's review the outcome of some of those higher-risk prospects with an excerpt from my 2026 NFL Draft Medical Red-Flag Results: Jermod McCoy ,CB: 10/10 concern - 4th round, #101 overall to Raiders The biggest fall of the draft was McCoy, who was a concern throughout the pre-draft process due to a knee that has already undergone a cartilage patching procedure. Both his short and long-term abilities are uncertain. Caleb Banks ,DT: 10/10 concern - 1st round, #18 overall to Vikings Banks surprisingly went higher than expected despite his multiple recent foot surgeries.
As written in my NFC North Draft Roundup , the Vikings interim-GM may be willing to roll the dice for a short-term jackpot. Francis Mauigoa ,OT: 9/10 concern - 1st round, #10 overall to Giants Mauigoa went in the early 1st despite a spinal disc issue. He was the second OT taken behind the medically-clean Spencer Fano.
It will be interesting to see if he ends up needing a disc surgery at some point. Ahmaad Moses , S: 9/10 concern - Undrafted, unsigned A post-combine spinal fusion has Moses still unsigned after the draft. Once he recovers from the surgery (likely later this year), he may get a tryout if he chooses to continue his career.