Early in the week during the NFL’s annual scouting combine, a high-ranking AFC executive kicked off a clandestine lunch meeting with an interesting question about Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the prospective No. 1 pick in the forthcoming draft.
The executive is tasked with his team’s cross-checks on the 2026 quarterback class which is a position of long-term need for his franchise. Naturally, he arrived in Indianapolis at the end of last month eager to get into interviews with players like Mendoza, Alabama’s Ty Simpson and others, as well as take in the passing workouts from those who chose to take part. But even before the week’s events kicked off, he had started drilling down on Mendoza’s standing as a potential franchise quarterback.
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“I’m not saying he’s not going to be a good player, but it’s not like there aren’t some things [to question],” he said. “He’s tough as s***. I can’t deny that. He’s really tough mentally and he made some big throws in big games. But he had a really strong running game [at Indiana]. He was throwing to three wide receivers [Omar Cooper Jr., Elijah Sarratt and Charlie Becker] that could all end up being taken in the top 60 picks by the time they get drafted. His offensive line was good. His defense was good. And they were one of the best coached teams in the country.”
Fernando Mendoza’s game is being picked apart, but there’s little sign that he’ll fall out of favor as the Raiders’ top draft choice in April. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel via Getty Images)
He went on, noting Mendoza essentially operated out of shotgun his entire college career; his passable-but-not-great athleticism; his lack of elite passing production in the middle of the field; a reliance on back-shoulder throws; and a suggestion that Mendoza’s tape from his 2023 and 2024 seasons at Cal was also good but not great. And then he pointed at Indiana’s 2024 starting quarterback, Kurtis Rourke, who put up his own banner college football season after transferring to the Hoosiers for that season.
After making the Rourke reference, the executive asked, “What if it’s a scheme and coaching that helps produce great quarterback stats?”
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The layered point was that there’s a chance that someday we look back at Mendoza’s 2025 season and recognize that he caught far more green lights with the Hoosiers than we might have realized in the moment. It’s also a point that comes with a caveat: This AFC executive — like every other QB-needy organization not holding the first pick in the draft — won’t have a chance to select Mendoza in April. So, admittedly, there may be some motivation to view these views with a heavy dose of skepticism.
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In all of this, though, there was another underlying current. One that was strongly suggestive about the Las Vegas Raiders, who are poised to take Mendoza with the top pick. Something along the lines of:
Before and after the Raiders take Mendoza at the top of the draft, the organization shoulders the monumental task of rebuilding the entire team around him. First and foremost with an offensive line that doesn’t allow him to get destroyed as a developing player — which is not something the Raiders have done well in recent seasons.
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That’s what should have been on the minds of Raiders fans Friday night, when Las Vegas deftly squeezed two first-round picks out of the Baltimore Ravens for star defensive end Maxx Crosby. Picks that will fall at No. 14 overall in this year’s draft, and then in the first round of what is expected to be an exceptionally talented 2027 pool of prospects. It’s a trade that, by all accounts, was leveraged against interest from the Dallas Cowboys, laying the foundation for a ramped-up rebuild around Mendoza.
Make no mistake, the Crosby trade was officially the first cannon shot signaling the start of this effort. It now gives the Raiders the flexibility to add multiple offensive linemen in the next two drafts — with four picks in the top 67 (Nos. 1, 14, 36 and 67) in 2026, and at least three picks in the top 64 (two first-rounders and one second-rounder) in 2027. Now accentuate that reality with the Raiders currently projecting to have hundreds of millions in salary cap space over the next two offseasons, two budding stars in tight end Brock Bowers and running back Ashton Jeanty, and an offensive-minded head coach in Klint Kubiak taking the controls.
While nothing is guaranteed, this certainly has the potential to engage the lasting pivot point the Raiders have been chasing for more than two decades — if not the past 40+ years. It also takes at least some stink off a recent report that the Raiders are again riding the very fine edge of being a monumental mess under the occasionally watchful eye of minority owner Tom Brady and his organizational consigliere/mole/wellness coordinator Alex Guerrero.
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It was the kind of trade that set the league on fire Friday night. Not only did it bring into focus the Ravens making an all-in commitment to at least the final two years of Lamar Jackson’s contract (which currently runs through 2027), but it also showcased that the Cowboys, who reportedly finished as the second bidder for Crosby, are serious about adding some other major pieces this offseason. Apparently lending some credence to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones suggesting he’d “bust the budget” this offseason to maximize whatever window Dallas currently has.
That’s all interesting context for a wider vantage of the NFL as it edges closer to free agency Monday. But none of it is more meaningful than what the Raiders are setting up to do. Their intentions were signaled first with the future release of 2025 starter Geno Smith, who will have his bridge quarterback role for the Raiders absorbed by another cheaper veteran free agent (with some starting experience) this offseason. Then next with the expected release of veteran guard Alex Cappa, who was part of a woefully underperforming offensive line last season. And finally, the cannon shot on Friday night, which adds momentum into the turn toward Mendoza.
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It was a moment that one NFC talent evaluator noted late Friday, remarking the Raiders’ haul over the next two drafts.
“A lot of [draft] choices,” he said. “ They just have to make the right picks. That’s where the pressure comes into play.”
Before and after Mendoza is chosen No. 1 overall in April.
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