Fernando Mendoza Q&A: Tom Brady’s Advice, the Kirk Cousins ‘Step Brothers’ Video and More

The Raiders’ No. 1 pick dishes on missing practice for the NFLPA Rookie Premiere and life since starting his NFL career.

Fernando Mendoza is now officially a Raider, after months of everyone assuming he’d be the No. 1 pick. | Candice Ward-Imagn Images

For a second, it seemed Fernando Mendoza’s other side was on the verge of appearing, the one he recently revealed to his new team that many had a hard time believing because of his happy-go-lucky viral interviews. 

Not long after becoming the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, Mendoza told the Raiders that he’s not always a nice guy and can be a bit of “an a-hole sometimes.” 

Surely, Mendoza’s other side was going to appear when he told Sports Illustrated, “I’m going to be completely honest with you.” That was his moment to complain about the somewhat miniature chair he was occupying during our sitdown interview while in Los Angeles for the NFLPA Rookie Premiere last week. Mendoza’s 6'5" stature and massive shoes can be captivating whenever he enters the room. 

But the Heisman Trophy–winner wasn’t bothered by the chair. He just came to the realization that he was missing practice while being at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere learning about his new benefits as a professional football player. Despite being briefly agitated, Mendoza quickly regrouped, flashed a smile and listed all the positives from participating in the three-day event. 

Clearly, Mendoza is eager to be the best at his new job, but his fast-moving life slowed a bit while in L.A. This was a good time to ask Mendoza how life has been since winning the national championship with Indiana and becoming the new face of the Silver & Black. 

He spoke about how to best use LinkedIn and gave his new teammate Kirk Cousins a shoutout for taking the lead in their Step Brothers parody they did for the Raiders’ schedule release video. Here’s what else Mendoza told us.

Sports Illustrated: Now that you’re employed by an NFL team, are you still using LinkedIn as much as you did before?

Fernando Mendoza: Right now, my priorities have shifted from finding a job to now making the job and to control the controllables, so I can be the best at my role.

SI: I do have a question about LinkedIn because I’m having trouble working it. Is it like Facebook? Or is it more like Twitter/X? How do you maneuver around LinkedIn?

FM: I don’t have Facebook, so I can’t give you a direct correlation, but I think the special thing about LinkedIn is that it’s unique. Facebook, X, other different types of social media platforms, they try to hook you, and not for the right reasons. With LinkedIn, there are so many business resources, connections you can make and it’s truly a platform that when you’re on it, it can net benefit you rather than sitting there for a couple hours doomscrolling. 

SI: Gaining benefits is what the NFLPA Rookie Premiere is about. You’re networking here, you’re meeting potential sponsors, you’re learning about life away from the NFL or the football field. Has there been one aspect from being here in L.A. that you feel like, “You know what, I’m going to remember that for a long time?”

FM: There’s a lot of great mentorship here with the NFLPA folks, and the entire staff, showing you the different benefits you attain throughout your entire career, whether it’s a one-year, three-year, 10-year career and how you can take advantage and make sure that you maximize your potential with the league benefits. 

SI: Being out here in Los Angeles, maybe it’s a good time to ask you about your schedule release video with Kirk Cousins. You did a lot of acting; there were a lot of lines in that Step Brothers parody. Did you prepare a good amount for that? And do you want to be an actor down the line?

FM: We actually didn’t really prepare. However, Kirk for sure outshined me and helped me because he’s a little bit of a marketing vet, especially with the Netflix serious documentary [Quarterback] that he did. So he was great. He took a little bit of a vet role as well in that production. It was a fun and funny thing we wanted to do for the fans. I was really glad that it came out well.

SI: With life being so fast-paced, being the No. 1 pick in the draft, playing for the Raiders and working with Klint Kubiak, and Kirk Cousins and Tom Brady, there’s a lot going on in your life, but being here for the NFLPA Rookie Premiere, do you feel like it slows down a bit, where maybe you learn other aspects about being a pro in the NFL? 

FM: I’m going to be completely honest with you. I’d rather be practicing right now and I was really upset about actually having to miss practice for this. Although it’s great … it’s still been a great moment to where it was mandatory I be here. I’m not going to feel sorry for myself and feel wishy-washy. I’m going to have a smile on my face and make the most of that present moment. Live and learn all the NFL pay benefits, make all the connections with different mentors here, let me make sure I can maximize my time to be able to create a positive impact and learn about my situation and surroundings. So those are all things that I really benefited from being here.

SI: Let me ask you about the brunch with Tom Brady and Travis Scott. What did you take away the most from those conversations? 

FM: It was a private brunch, lunch, there were a lot of great lessons about leadership, playing, accountability, business. It was all over the place, but the one consistent variable was that it was quality information and it’s information that I wrote down on a notepad. I’ll be able to digest it when I read it back tonight and for the future.

SI: Is there anything you want to share from what you wrote down on that notepad or would you rather keep all that yourself?

FM: I don’t know about taking it all for myself. I always want to share, but the one biggest thing that I thought was awesome was when Tom talked about leadership and the two variables that you need to be a great leader. One, care about your teammates, and second, care about the team’s goals. It’s not about being a Pro Bowler, being a star player. It’s about caring about your teammates, who they are and caring about winning, and the team’s ultimate goal, which is to win a championship.

SI: Lastly, Fernando, one thing I like to ask the rookies, away from the football field, what are some interests, hobbies or anything that helps you unwind and be at ease?

FM: I’m pretty strict with my nutrition, but I love going to eat out on my diet with teammates. That’s always fun. Pickleball is always another fun one to me. And then, I love watching movies, finding new movies. It’s always cool to see the different cultural aspects of movies that were filmed and produced in the ’80s to now the 2000s, and it’s a great way to experience different types of productions. 

SI: Is there a movie you always like to watch? And a new movie you recently watched that you enjoyed?

FM: There are a lot of movies, and I’m not the movie guy. I let the movie experts pick the movie. I like that it’s a little bit of a bonding experience because not only do you get to experience the movie together, but after, there are a lot of different topics that you could talk about, whether it’s an inside joke about the movie, discussion, debate. So I think that’s a great aspect.

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