After Five Years in Canada, Fernandez Caught On With Raiders
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The Oakland-Los Angeles-Las Vegas Raiders have so many great players in their history, with 30 of them who played in Silver and Black enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, that there are some other very good players often are a bit overlooked.
One of them was wide receiver Mervyn Fernandez, who, even though he turned down his first chance to play for the Raiders, spent five seasons with the British Columbia Lions through 1986 and ended up playing on two teams that won the Grey Cup.
Fernandez, known as “Swervin’ Mervin,” caught 399 passes for 6,690 passes and 90 touchdowns in the CFL, and the Los Angeles Raiders wanted him to come back after having selected him in the 10th round (No. 277) overall of the 1983 NFL Draft out of San Jose State.
By then, Fernandez was already playing in Canada after leaving the Spartans after one season, in which he caught 35 passes for 697 yards, a 19.9 average, and seven touchdowns, in addition to running 35 yards for a TD on his only carry. Earlier, he played two seasons at DeAnza Junior College in Cupertino.
However, the Raiders liked what they had seen and kept their eyes on him in Canada.
“He’s got the size and he also has the speed,” Raiders Coach Tom Flores said. “Watching films from his days in the CFL, he rarely gets caught from behind. We’ve had him farmed out in Canada to get experience, and now we figured it was time to bring him in.”
Fernandez became the first member of the B.C. Lions to win the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award in 1985, when he made 95 receptions for 1,127 yards for an 18.2-yard average and caught 15 touchdown passes.
Not only that, Fernandez was also selected as a CFL All-Star in 1984 and 1985 and was a West Division All-Star from 1982-95 with more than 1,000 yards receiving season, in addition to those two Grey Cup victories.
“I want to prove myself,” Fernandez said when he came with the Raiders. “So many athletes from Canada have gone through the system and not produced. I want to show people I can play this game, even though it has been in a different country so far.
“It’s a league that you can hone your craft in, keep playing some good football and hopefully get noticed or picked up by one of the NFL teams if you so choose. Some guys prefer to stay in Canada.”
The 6-3, 205-pound Fernandez, who grew up in San Jose and played at Andrew Hill High School, caught only 14 passes for 236 yards in his first season with the Raiders. Still, he had to battle for playing time at wide receiver with during his time with the Raiders against future Hall of Famer Tim Brown, James Lofton, and Jessie Hester.
However, Fernandez ranks ninth on the Raiders’ all-time receiving list with 209 receptions for 3,764 yards, an 18.1-yard average, and 19 touchdowns, including an 85-yarder at a time when teams did throw the ball as much as they do these days. His 18.1-yard average is the best in the Raiders’ franchise history, and in 1988, he led NFL receivers with an average of 26.0 yards per reception.
“I’m a wide-open type of guy, a game-breaker,” said Fernandez, who clocked in the 40-yard dash in a speedy 4.4 seconds. “Long ball, short ball, I can turn anything into a touchdown.”
Fernandez had his best season with the Raiders in 1989 when he made 57 receptions catches for 1,069 yards and nine touchdowns, leading the Silver and Black in almost every major receiving category and becoming only the sixth player in franchise history to gain more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season.
Although he probably never will be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame with those 30 other Raiders, Fernandez was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2019 and is a member of the B.C. Lions Wall of Fame was selected to their All-Time Dream Team during their 50th anniversary season in 2003.
And last but certainly not least, Fernandez received one final award when he was selected No. 42 on the CFL’s list of Top 50 Players in the Modern Era by the Canadian sports network TSN in 2006.
As good as he was, it’s a shame that Fernandez could not have played his entire career wearing Silver and Black because he might have wound up in Canton.
If you want to look at that list of Raiders in the Hall of Fame, you can find it WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
The NFL Scouting Combine is scheduled for Feb. 28-March 6, 2023, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. March 7, 2023, before 4 p.m. EST, is the club's deadline to designate Franchise or Transition Players.
March 13-15 is the free agent negotiation period. From 12 p.m. EST on March 13 and ending at 3:59:59 p.m. EST on March 15, clubs are permitted to contact and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents upon the expiration of their 2022 Player Contracts at 4 p.m. EST on March 15.
The 2023 NFL Year and Free Agency period begins at 4 p.m. EST on March 15. The Raiders are expected to be significant players in the free-agent market this season.
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