Why Raiders Believe Fernando Mendoza Is Their Franchise QB

HENDERSON, Nev.—The sun began to settle on Thursday night behind the Spring Mountains that surround Henderson like a perfectly orchestrated offensive line protecting a quarterback with a pocket.

It was fitting.

The Raiders had inked their franchise quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, earlier in the day, and the organization is committed to him being exactly what they need.

Raiderss HQ | Dexter Ernest Wayne Carpenter, On SI

The Process

The process of signing Mendoza was long before yesterday; it came long before the first night of the 2026 NFL Draft, long before the NFL Combine.

It started long before Mendoza was on the radar of most fans.

His rise to a college football title and a Heisman Trophy created the hype, but when others started to notice, the Raiders had already been watching.

Fernando Mendoza | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

For months.

Spyteking

The Raiders GM, charged with overseeing the rebuild for the ownership group, is John Spytek.

He has assembled a phenomenal staff of rising stars on their own. Below them on the administrative flow chart are various people, all on the same page and moving in the same direction.

GM John Spytek, Fernando Mendoza, Klint Kubiak | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

They didn’t set out with a Mendoza-or-bust mentality; they set out to scour the land for the best college football players who they felt fit the Raiders’ new culture.

Spytek got the Raiders and wanted to go away from the futility of the past two-plus decades and reestablish the team’s new identity by going back to the old.

Spytek spoke after firing Pete Carroll about the direction of the franchise. The rebuild is far from complete, and Mendoza is not yet ready to lead at QB1, but Spytek is true to his conviction.

John Spytek — Raiders | Darrell Craig Harris, ON SI

“We have a massive opportunity in front of us this offseason to set this organization, this franchise, on a course for success and provide the results that Raider Nation and the Las Vegas community deserves and expects.”

Nothing has been done to dampen those expectations, and no shortcuts have been taken to get there.

Why Mendoza?

Fernando Mendoza was on the Raiders' radar early; you can’t teach size (6’5”, 236 lbs.), runs like a deer. Everyone got on board during the heat of the run and after, but the Raiders believed before anyone else.

In fact, when we let Raider Nation know last year, before the first game, that he was on the radar, many scoffed. They aren’t now.

The Raiders looked brilliant when the player they thought he was showed out in 2025.

Apr 23, 2026; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza is selected by the Las Vegas Raiders as the number one pick during the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Everyone knew about Mendoza’s athleticism, size, and accuracy when he went to Cal. That didn’t set the Raiders apart from the crowd. What stood out was that, in a me-first culture of college football, Mendoza chose the school offering less money and more difficult coaching. Mendoza wasn’t betting on a school’s name and tradition; he was betting on Curt Cignetti, his intense coaching style, and track record of developing players.

Essentially, Mendoza chose team and potential, hard work, and discipline over money and prestige. He chose the exact way the Raiders are rebuilding

Just a few minutes after selecting Mendoza, I asked Spytek about what I just relayed to you, and he told me, “I just saw a kid that was hungry and willing to bet on himself and wanted a great opportunity to compete against the best. I think the Big Ten is the best conference in football right now. And he showed exactly that, that he was that."

While most young men of Mendoza’s age are looking for cheat codes on their favorite video game, he was looking to win, a code that doesn’t include cheating.

Jan 19, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti and quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) after defeating the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Last season, in a title run that many believe was the greatest single year of football in college football history by one team, he threw 379 passes, completed 273 of them for a 72% completion percentage, and threw a mind-boggling 41 touchdown passes.

Through every meeting, every conversation, and every part of placing Mendoza under the proverbial NFL microscope known as the scouting process, he kept coming up positive for being a Raider.

They loved the "awe-shucks", genuine nature of the pride of Miami. The more they got to know him, the more they loved his authentic nature in a synthetic world.

Mendoza was, and remains, comfortable in his own skin.

Why did they take him? Because, like multiple other NFL Executives, they couldn’t get away from the entirety of the package he brings to the desert.

Indiana's Fernando Mendoza (15) scores a touchdown during the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

What You Can’t Buy

If you look at the wake of the NFL, there are multitudes of failed quarterbacks who had all of the skills. Ryan Leaf, JaMarcus Russell, Trey Lance, Akili Smith, and Heath Shuler, to name a few. There are far more failures than successes.

So why would a franchise at the precipice of a rebuild choose Mendoza? While the game of football is played on the field, what sets the great ones apart is what is between the ears.

The first thing Spytek said after selecting the Hoosier had nothing to do with touchdown-to-interception ratios, accuracy, or mobility. It was about the man. The young man.

“Just a great person. Raised the right way, great family. He's about the right things, it's about his team, it's about winning, it's about doing the right thing, being accountable to the whole organization. It's very little to do with all the accolades he got after they won all those games."

Apr 21, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza reacts after throwing the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Miami Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"And he's really smart. He works really hard. This means a lot to him. And I don't (think) that being the first overall pick and winning the Heisman and all the things that he's gotten will change him. I think that it'll actually make him work harder to prove that he's worth all that and then earn even more."

Spytek understands that you aren’t selecting a QB; he was selecting a man, and they liked that man.

Mendoza Mindset

Since the Raiders selected him first overall, Mendoza has continually reinforced their belief in him. To say the Raiders are thrilled with their shiny new franchise QB would be a legendary understatement.

Mendoza is a lot of things; stupid or even naïve are not two of them.

He doesn’t battle the enormous ego of a first-overall pick. He understands he will be one of 53, and that his journey will take time. He doesn’t hide it.

“I think there's always a transition, especially from the college level to the NFL level, and it's having those positive stressors and that growing period, and there's going to be some growing pains.“

The humility shines through when he adds, “Luckily I feel confident that I'm able to see the field well, and that my growing pains are coming from, 'Hey, I've got to time up my footwork a little better with the routes,' and intricacies here and there, and I'm really working hard with coaching staff who's pushing me and have done a phenomenal job of relaying and communicating the information needed, and it's up to me to take full advantage of that, and I feel like I've been growing every day from the first day of OTAs, then today in minicamp, I feel like I'm leaps and bounds ahead of where I was."

Odds and Reality

The Indiana Hoosiers entering the 2025 college football season had the most losses in college football history. The odds were against them. New players, a coaching staff new to the rigors of the Big Ten and NFL football, and a new QB named Mendoza.

A kid who could have gotten more money somewhere else, but chose the tough coaching of Curt Cignetti, which he will get from Klint Kubiak.

We all know how that worked out.

Indiana's Fernando Mendoza (15) smiles as he celebrates after the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The reality is that the odds were probably worse at Indiana that he could do what he did.

The odds are against Mendoza today, Kubiak, Spytek, and the Raiders.

But the Raiders got a young man who is used to defying the odds. He has done it before, the same way he is now.

The headline yesterday was that the Raiders signed the number one overall player, who happens to be a QB. What the headline didn’t tell you is that he isn’t just a QB; he is a proven, odds-defying young man with the work ethic and personal drive to do it…again.

With the deal Mendoza signed yesterday, the Silver and Black will pay him just over $57 million over the next four years. They will be thrilled if he plays the way they expect him to, and his next contract is for $57 million per year.

Remember, Mendoza is an odds defyer, and in the famous quote by Wesley Snipes from the 1992 action movie Passenger 57, “Always bet on black,” or should we say, Silver and Black.

Watch Our Podcast on Fernando Mendoza's Phenomenal Opportunity

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