Is Fernando Mendoza the Best Option at Number One?

Speaking of the Raiders, let's pivot to Fernando Mendoza because We have We have made this a foregone conclusion at this point that Fernando Mendoza is going #1 overall.

I mean, the Raiders are behaving like a team that's going to draft Fernando Mendoza.

It looks like they're kind of, you know, the rookie QB contract is going to budget perfectly in there, especially if they have to take on the Max Crosby salary.

Like everything is pointing.

Mendoza, are you at any juncture of this stopping and saying like, is that a good idea?

Like, are we sure we want to do this?

Is he really the number one player in this draft?

Like, I, I don't know where are you at on this.

Um, so this is, again, I've got a lot of phone calls to make over the next month with that caveat, I would say.

This is the way you wanna look at him.

Um, I, the comp I like most for him is Jared Goff, you know, I, I just think he's like tall, um, got a really nice stroke, like throwing the ball looks really like I, I.

Again, like, a lot of this is feel for me.

I'm not like a, I'm not a scout, but it, like he's just one of these guys throwing the ball looks easy for him, you know, like the same way it does for golf, and, um.

So he, um, I, I think if you take the last 5 draft classes, OK, so 22 to 26, I think he's somewhere around.

The 4th or 5th best quarterback prospect in that larger group .

So better than Bryce Young, better than CJ Stroud, not as good as the 3 guys, and this is coming out, right?

This is like where they are coming out into the pros.

Better than Stroud, better than Bryce Young, better than Kenny Pickett, behind the three guys, um, from Caleb4, Caleb and Drake May, right behind those three, ahead of Pennix, ahead of McCarthy, ahead of.

Um, ahead of, uh, Knicks, right, um, and then I think like where the dividing line is, is he, is he better than Cam Ward, and I think he's sort of right there , right, better than Jackson Dart.

So like you're talking about, and I think it's the same conversation we had on Cam Ward last year is, it's not about the first contract because I think like you get really good value on the first contract.

It is that conversation.

I think you almost have with Tua, you know, like, or you have with, with Kyler Murray where you get to the end of the first contract and is, do we pay him or do we not?

And then like, And, and, and what that becomes is a bigger conversation of, is his ceiling the 9th or 10th best quarterback in the league or the 7th or 8th best quarterback in the league?

Can he ever elevate into the top 5?

I think that that's the conversation we're gonna be having as we get a little bit closer to the draft.

What interests me about Mendoza is, again, We have this Brady situation where he's involved, sometimes not involved, other times, um, has sway in the way that the team is built sometimes, other times it's, it's left to, um, the people who are in the building every day.

Um, he hears stuff through surrogates, but like how reliable are the all that stuff, right?

You've Mendoza, who is by all accounts a wonderful kid, just like a wonderful kid.

Um, but came from an Indiana program where, like, Kurt Signetti knew exactly what he needed and wanted and where all the pieces were put.

Exactly what we're talking about, right?

Yeah, right.

And, and, and, and, and, and I think what's interesting about the Raiders though, Albert, is like that like Mendoza, I'm not saying he needs.

I'm trying to say this in, in, in the absolute right way.

I'm not saying that he strikes me as someone who needs.

Any sort of help in this regard, but it's like, Him transitioning to the NFL out of Indiana and then having Clint Kubiak like a first-time head coach, it, it, I think is dicier than him going from like Kurt Cignettti to like Mike Tomlin or Kurt Cignettti to, you know, obviously.

Obviously Sean McVeigh or something like that, you know what I mean?

And I'm not saying that Clint's going to do a bad job at all, right?

But you have this setup where it reminded me a lot of, um, and I guess everything goes back to the, to the Jets of 2019 and 20 2009, 2009 and 2010.

But like, when, you know, now the Raiders have this incredibly veteran laden defense.

They signed a lot of vets who are dependent on this guy coming in, Crosby coming back.

Yeah, and so you have this situation where Mendoza needs to strike the right chord attitudinally right away.

And is Brady gonna be there to help him with that?

Is, is Clint the right coach to sort of guide him on the tracks there?

I, I, I don't know.

I'm, I'm curious what your thoughts are here.

I think Brady sees a lot of himself, um, in Mendoza.

I think he's going to see, I, I should amend that.

I think he's going to see a lot of himself in Mendoza just in play style and all of that.

Um, there is a little bit of a learning curve there because that was an RPO heavy offense and people think of Indiana as a Cinderella.

They had players that he was throwing to.

I mean, Omar Cooper is probably gonna be a first round pick.

Um, Elijah Serrat was an I you.

Indiana.

Elijah Sarratt's a really good player.

I don't know if he'll translate to the pros, but probably like a 4th-round pick somewhere in there, 3rd, 4th-round pick.

And then they've got a younger guy, Charlie Becker, who made huge plays for them, you know, down the stretch of the year.

So he had a really good group of players around him.

Um, so, I, I, again, like I, I, I would sort of, So I think Clint, we talk about having a refined vision, right, which is what you're talking about a defined vision for what you're looking for.

I actually think Clint's gonna have that because I think, well, I, I believe that.

I think most of the Shanahan guys do, and I think especially the guys who grew up on a grassroots level, this is what Mike McDaniel was.

He knew exactly what he needed, right?

And like, I think Clint, obviously because of his dad has been around it since he was a little kid and so.

You know, I think, again, like this is gonna, I think the, what you're gonna see is Clint giving John Spytek in the front office a really good idea of what he needs.

And it's going to be easier to find those, those things over the course of the next couple of years while Mendoza is on a rookie contract.

And so, I think you look at Mendoza and it's like very easy to see.

We can probably get him up and running and be a, a, a decent player pretty quick, right?

Because of his level of experience, and because there is a vision for the offense.

And I think the question is gonna become, can he elevate guys around him, you know, and so the first year, he'll have to do that to some degree, because, I mean, at this point, the offensive line is still a work in progress.

You're throwing the Speedy Naylor and the Brock Bowers, and you have Ashton Genty as your running back.

I think as they add year 2, year 3, like, there's gonna be a vision there and it's gonna look good.

When he has to start elevating people is the question, I think, you know, um, and then, how is he gonna adapt to playing in the offense, which is gonna be pretty different than what he was doing at Indiana.

Um, It'll be interesting to see the way all that works out, and JSN just signed an extension.

How about that?

I know a little breaking news on the show.

Now the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history.

Um, John Schneider doing a nice job.

I mean, God, he just puts together these rosters that are so good that they become incredibly expensive to keep together and what a problem to have.

I mean, he had this issue with the Legion of Boom and now he's having it, trying to keep together this offense, uh, that won the Super Bowl.

Let me ask you this, if you were uh John Spytek, if you were the Raiders, and Let's say over the next couple of weeks, you get a phone call from the New York Jets and Aaron Glenn has decided, uh, that he needs his he wants his quarterback now, doesn't want to wait.

It's got Geno Smith in there.

We give you the #2 pick, and a 1 next year.

the highest of our ones next year, or both ones next year.

I don't know what the, the, the draft pick value would be on that.

I have to look it up, but Is that a conversation you're entertaining at this point if you're the Raiders?

Yes, sure, sure, I would listen.

I mean, I, I, I would definitely listen.

I mean, but part of it's gotta be, all right, so like if you're taking, if you got the 2nd pick now.

You're taking a pass rusher.

You're deeply invested in Max Crosby, and you have, well, you have no choice.

I mean, like, that's the thing is like you, you have, you have who you have Max Crosby, you have Cody Pay, you have Malcolm Koontz who you brought back.

Like I, I would just look at everything the Raiders have done to this point has indicated like, and to me like they started and they started studying and.

Like, I think they were in as early as December or in like Fernando Mendoza or Dante Moore mode, and then Dante Moore decided to go back to school, but I think Moore was a real factor.

And when Moore came out of the equation, now all of a sudden it's like, OK, like, you know, Mendoza is in all likelihood the guy, and they, they think they conducted a coaching search that way and everything else.

I would certainly listen, um, you know, I, I don't think there's any harm in that.

And next year's class is next year's class.

So, if you're winding up, if you're gonna wind up with the, the highest of the Jets picks, um, next year, I, I don't know.

I mean, like, what could that wind up adding up to?

It's interesting.

You know, the other thing that's like fascinating about this conversation too.

Connor, how do you think?

The lack of a The lack of another franchise-level prospect at that position is affecting all of this, and, and, and, and, and maybe boosts Mendoza's stock a little bit too in the eyes of people.

Well, yeah, so, and, and here's, here's, and again, this is gonna sound like I'm knocking on this kid, I'm not, OK?

But Let's take the Shanahan offense in particular.

What's the one thing That Kyle's been looking for at the quarterback position that he has not been able to find yet, and he's taken swings at it.

What's the one thing that really , almost every single Shanahan person, I, I, I've gone through this a couple of times and I've looked at it, has wanted.

And cannot seem to find at the quarterback position.

It's mobility and what's the one thing that you need to survive in the NFL right now as a quarterback?

I mean, you look at all the top quarterbacks.

Joe Burrow is.

is mobile in a different way, right, but he's mobile.

He's mobile and ability and his escapability, yeah, and, and Joe Burrows like a, for people who don't know is like an, you know, you, because you're comparing him to these cyborgs like, you know, like Mahomes and Alan and, and, and Lamar, uh.

People don't look at him that way.

He's a phenomenal athlete.

Like he's like a great athlete, all-state basketball player in high school, all of that.

The, the two, the two players that are like, interesting enough, and they don't play in the Shanahan offense, but that were horrendous in terms of EPA per rush, Jared Goff and Matt Stafford, one plays with the best collection of skill position players in the NFL and Goff and had Ben Johnson up until last year, OK.

The other is Matt Stafford and he plays for Sean McVeigh, and Matt's a, a great athlete too, like a phenomenal athlete too, right?

But playing with McVeigh and playing with Pukaiua and, and, and Devonte Adams and in that offense allows you, I think, to, to hide certain things about your game that aren't necessarily strengths, right?

So if you're the Raiders, I'm just wondering like, You're looking at this and you're saying, OK, uh, if we can get Mendoza to process, and, and that's probably what this whole thing has been about for them, right, because Shanahan quarterbacks need to be able to process, right?

They need to be able to apply the rules to what they're seeing on the field and to know, OK, 12345, right?

Find the answer, the answer, right?

And I, I, I have no doubt that Mendoza can do that.

What I have doubts on is that Mendoza can do that plus when everything breaks down, get himself out of trouble.

And what's interesting about like Brock Purdy is Brock Purdy has an escape hatch in his game where there's sort of a fearlessness to him, and he also is Christian McCaffrey, you know, and that would be the, so I think what you're talking about, and I think it's almost become like the template for, for developing a young quarterback now is.

You like when they're young, they have the escape hatch of using their athleticism which allows them to develop.

Jackson Dart is a perfect example of someone who survived a very rocky rookie season with his best offensive skill position player being like a 4th round running back out of Arizona State, you know what I mean, after the neighbor's injury, yeah, for sure.

And like I, and I think like, but that's become the template, hasn't it?

It's like, all right, like defenses are throwing so much of these guys now and they have so much to look at and so much to work through.

That they, when they're young.

The way they buy time to develop all of that, the ability to process all of that, the ability to make sense of that is by being great athletes and by, like, hey, 12, it's not there.

I'm gonna break the pocket , you know, create like a second play, and then I've got the arm strength.

I've got the horsepower to get the ball to some to, to my receiver downfield, um.

With Mendoza, and this is actually interesting for me because like I, like I do think with Mendoza, it's gonna be instructive for a lot of teams to, for, and I mean, the Raiders, obviously, but like for, for, for scouts to look at, um, What does Cal tape looks like?

Because I think part of the problem at times with these guys that play on really great teams, you know, is Mac Jones at Alabama, Justin Fields at Ohio State.

The problem with a lot of these guys is that they have such great talent around them and really good coaching.

To the point where things didn't go wrong for them very much.

I mean, Fernando Mendoza, to just bolster your point, literally had the, the greatest coaching job in the history of college sports, right?

And 3 NFL receivers and 3 NFL receive NFL wide receivers, yeah.

And so, and so like you look at it with him and it's like how often, OK.

He can get to number 3 or number 4.

How often did he actually have to do it, you know?

And I, I always think of Justin Fields as the best example of this because, and, and I think Justin did the right thing in, in, in, in agreeing to go to Kansas City and everything else, adjusting his contract.

I think that's the right thing, right place for him to be.

But I remember watching Justin in college and, you know, he's throwing to Jackson Smith and Jigba, Chris Olave, and Ja Jackson Smith and Jigba, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jamison Williams were his receivers, so like.

I mean, like, there were games where it looked like holy crap, like, I, and I remember saying like, I don't know who, what people are talking about, he can't operate from the pocket, like, what are you watching?

And the reality was like in the few cases where, like you could force him to have to go to 3 or 4, he struggled and he held the ball, and that's what you wound up seeing in the pros.

And he just hasn't had those reps of having to do that because he had such great talent around him in college.

And I do one with Mendoza, is that gonna happen, you know, and going back to Cal, can you see some of those things, you know, so I think that's what's so interesting about it.

And again, like I, I, I think he's the right kind of kid.

He's got great work ethic, um, you know, like a lot of the tools you really like, he's big, um, you know, I made the comparison to Goff.

He's bigger than golf.

He's 236 pounds, which is a big freaking quarterback, you know, um, but you're definitely projecting.

And if you're gonna say , all right, maybe it's gonna take him a couple of years to develop the ability to, you know, get through everything mentally that you're watching on a play to play basis, that's where the athleticism comes in and having to be able to break the pocket and create a second, you know, basically create a second life for a play and go and make a play on your own.

Um, I, I just, you know.

If you're Tom Brady, if you're the Raiders, again, I'm just leaving it here.

Um.

I would just be interested, that's all, because then next year you've such a broader flavor of options, you know what I mean?

And you're not pigeonholed into making this work.

You buy yourself a little bit more time.

No one expects the Raiders to be competitive next year.

You know what I mean?

Like you, you let it rip with Kirk Cousins for a season, and then I don't know, man, you know, sign him to a two-year contract and then have him there to mentor the guy, and, but this time he understands he's mentoring the guy, you know, I don't know.

I like that idea.

All right, and I think, I think like, and I think like that piece of it is like kind of where you start to ask the question of yourself, is this because Is he up there because, like, Ty Simpson, people aren't sure about Garrett Nussmeyer had a really bad last year, Drew Aller fell off a cliff.

Like, I, I, that's, that's sort of the question that you've got to ask yourself now.