{"id":643932,"date":"2026-05-02T01:35:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T01:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/643932\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T01:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T01:35:17","slug":"east-texas-2026-nfl-draft-recap-mccoy-miller-king-join-nfl-ranks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/643932\/","title":{"rendered":"East Texas 2026 NFL Draft recap: McCoy, Miller, King join NFL ranks"},"content":{"rendered":"

EAST TEXAS (KETK<\/a>)\u2013 During the NFL Draft this past weekend, over 250 collegiate players were selected to enter the league, including several East Texas natives who will officially begin their professional careers this fall.<\/p>\n

While some East Texans<\/a> were not selected in the draft, they were able to find a home in the NFL after being signed as free agents shortly after the draft concluded on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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KETK News has compiled a list of the East Texans who will be starting their NFL careers this fall after being selected in this year\u2019s draft or signing as a free agent:<\/p>\n

Jermod McCoy Whitehouse: Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> (4th-round)<\/p>\n

Throughout the weekend, East Texans were awaiting the selection of former Whitehouse Wildcat Jermod McCoy, who many scouts across the league viewed as one of the top cornerbacks entering the league before concerns about ongoing injuries derailed his chances of being a first-round pick.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, McCoy decided to forgo his senior year at the University of Tennessee and enter the draft after being forced to miss the entirety of his junior season due to a torn ACL.<\/p>\n

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Chapel Hill celebrates two basketball players headed to the college level <\/a><\/p>\n

After deciding to enter the draft, McCoy was considered a top-10 pick by many scouts and analysts following a highly decorated collegiate career in which he received several awards and honors and was regarded as one of the best cornerbacks in the country.<\/p>\n

Leading up to the draft, however, McCoy\u2019s stock began to plummet due to ongoing concerns about his knee potentially causing him to miss a significant amount of time on the field during the season.<\/p>\n

After surprisingly falling to the third and final day of the draft, McCoy was eventually selected Saturday afternoon<\/a> with the first pick in the fourth round by the Las Vegas Raiders, making him the first East Texan selected during this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

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As he prepares to join the Raiders this offseason, McCoy will now frequently be facing off against fellow Whitehouse alumnus Patrick Mahomes<\/a>, who, along with the Raiders, is also a member of the AFC West division.<\/p>\n

Although the selection of Jam Miller by the New England Patriots in the final round of the draft on Saturday did not receive much national attention, the pick did make East Texas headlines due to Miller\u2019s connection to Tyler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before committing to the University of Alabama, Miller was a member of the Tyler Legacy, where he broke several school records as a running back and finished his high school career with over 4,000 rushing yards and 65 touchdowns before graduating in 2022.<\/p>\n

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After two years as a backup, Miller eventually became the starting running back during his junior year at Alabama and quickly gained national attention. Miller concluded his junior year with 688 rushing yards and eight touchdowns through 13 games.<\/p>\n

Going into his senior year in 2025, Miller was forced to miss the first few games of the regular season due to an upper-body injury. Although he was sidelined for several games, Miller still ended his senior season with over 500 rushing yards before deciding to enter the draft<\/p>\n

On Saturday, with the 245th overall pick, Miller was selected by the New England Patriots, who are coming off a solid 2025 season where they appeared in the Super Bowl for the 12th time in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Miller is now the second Tyler Legacy alumnus who has been selected in the NFL Draft, alongside offensive lineman Beaux Limmer<\/a>, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

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Leading up to the draft, many speculated when and if former Longview Lobo quarterback Haynes King would be drafted following a promising season at Georgia Tech.<\/p>\n

To some East Texans\u2019 surprise, King was not selected during the draft<\/a>, which saw 10 quarterbacks picked. However, following the draft, King was quickly signed by the Carolina Panthers on Saturday as an undrafted free agent.<\/p>\n

King will now be looking to secure a spot on the Panthers\u2019 roster following an impressive senior year at Georgia Tech, where he threw for over 2,000 yards and 14 touchdowns while only throwing six interceptions.<\/p>\n

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Following his senior year, King was named the 2025 ACC Player of the Year and the 2025 Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award recipient, which is bestowed upon the top college offensive player who either hails from Texas or competes for a four-year Division I program in the state.<\/p>\n

Prior to his collegiate career, King was a member of the Longview Lobos football team, where he played under his father and head coach John King and helped lead the Lobos to their most recent state title in 2018.<\/p>\n

If King is able to secure a spot on the Panthers roster this fall, it would make him one of three Longview alumni currently in the NFL.<\/p>\n

You can now stream KETK and FOX51 News live 24\/7 on your smart TV\u00a0with\u00a0KETK+<\/a>,\u00a0our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite needed\u2014watch for free, anytime.\u00a0Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KETK.com | FOX51.com. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAST TEXAS (KETK)\u2013 During the NFL Draft this past weekend, over 250 collegiate players were selected to enter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,311610,1257,287674,311607,311608,90847,211039,21061,1250,1263,311609,1231,593,6584,85,5359],"class_list":["post-643932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beaux-limmer","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-collegiate-career","tag-east-texans","tag-east-texas","tag-haynes-king","tag-jam-miller","tag-john-king","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-mccoy","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-patrick-mahomes","tag-sports","tag-texans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}