NFL Draft 2026: Who is Fernando Mendoza? Meet the likely next face of the Las Vegas Raiders

Fernando Mendoza announced on LinkedIn he was ‘open to work’ earlier this year. On Thursday, he will find ‘work’ as the No 1 overall pick at the 2026 NFL Draft – barring any late chaos.

He is a self-embraced nerd, a conscientious thinker, a joyous competitor and an articulate business graduate who steers and inspires by example both on and off the field, now primed to become the new face of the Las Vegas Raiders.

If there was a supposed deflation in usual No 1 pick hype surrounding Mendoza, the Indiana quarterback would not know it, nor would he care.

He is accustomed to being undersold, accustomed to modest expectations and projections, and building quite the habit of exceeding as much as an odds-defying national champion.

Indiana’s title-winning hero

Once upon a time Mendoza was ranked by 247Sports as just the 134th best quarterback prospect in the class of 2022 and the 250th best player in Florida coming out of Miami Columbus High School. Now he is the latest quarterback to shoulder hopes of invigorating a franchise desperate for direction.

In 21 of the last 30 years the No 1 overall pick at the NFL Draft has been a quarterback, including eight of the last 10 and in each of the last three years. Mendoza will extend that streak.

The 22-year-old, who was born in Boston but grew up in Miami, attended Christopher Columbus High School before initially committing to play football at Ivy League Yale. He subsequently changed his decision in order to play at California, where he spent three seasons before transferring to Indiana in December 2024.

It would ignite Mendoza’s breakout chapter as he spearheaded Indiana to a perfect 16-0 season and the school’s first ever College Football National Championship title following a 27-21 win over Miami. He was later named College Football Player of the Year and Indiana’s maiden Heisman Trophy winner after finishing the campaign 273 of 379 passing for 3,535 yards and 41 touchdowns to just six interceptions.

Cue consensus No 1 pick territory.

“You have to look at his arm talent,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Phoebe Schecter on Inside the Huddle. “He’s got great pocket presence, really good arm strength. Something you see, or perhaps don’t see as much in college, is the way that he can throw from hash to sideline.

“He really can get it anywhere on the field, which they don’t really always call on that when it comes to the college game, but you see that a lot more when it comes to the NFL. And he’s been consistent this past season, which I think is the biggest kind of uptick for him.

“They really found the rhythm with him. Great attacking the middle of the field and isn’t afraid to take shots downfield. You need to have that little bit of bravery behind you. Just his presence, his character, his leadership that he brings from an on-field and off-field perspective as well.”

‘Mendoza can help Raiders make gigantic step’

The prestige of being a No 1 pick quarterback typically comes with the daunting reality of pressure to transform an entire organisation. That is very much the case in Las Vegas, where the Raiders just fired Pete Carroll after one season in charge while moving on from veteran quarterback Geno Smith in the wake of a seventh losing campaign in the last decade.

Newly appointed Klint Kubiak will serve as the team’s 15th different head coach since the turn of the century (including two stints from Jon Gruden). Between them a tandem of Kubiak and Mendoza will be tasked with leading a side with just two playoff appearances (both defeats) since their Super Bowl defeat at the end of the 2002 season.

Quarterback remains the most important position in sport. Time after time draft picks falter, but teams know they can never invest in life under center enough.

“The quarterback is the most valued position in football,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Jeff Reinebold. “So anytime you have a chance to get a guy who can be a franchise quarterback (you take one), and I think Mendoza has enough of those qualities to warrant the first pick in this draft.

“This is not a good quarterback draft. I don’t have another quarterback with the first-round grade. Ty Simpson might sneak in at the end of the draft at the end of the first round, but I still think that’s a real risk.

“Is he the best football player in this draft? No. But is he the best quarterback in this draft? Without a shadow of a doubt.

“The Raiders have made significant strides in the offseason. If Mendoza hits, then that is a gigantic step for the silver and black to get back to where they want to be.”

For what Mendoza may lack in the off-platform and out-of-pocket wizardry seemingly customary to young quarterbacks entering the league, he makes up for with a prototypical package of precision, placement, downfield aggression and rhythm.

There is a lot to be said for consistently putting the ball on target, and Mendoza offered little room for fault in his title-winning season.

NFL Network Draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah likened his size and arm talent to former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, while Lance Zierlein compared him to the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow.

“Mendoza is a very accurate thrower with excellent size, toughness and enough athleticism,” said Jeremiah. “He operates well out of shotgun and leans heavily on the RPO game. He has fast hands, makes good decisions and is accurate on those quick throws.

“To see him make more NFL-type throws, it’s helpful to study his pass attempts on third-and-seven-plus – that’s where he shows the velocity to drive the ball in the seam and also displays pinpoint placement on back-shoulder throws.

“He is insanely tough, routinely hanging in the pocket and absorbing big hits.”

Mendoza in Vegas

The Raiders will occupy the No 1 pick at the Draft for the first time since 2007, when they famously selected LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell.

Russell played in 31 games (25 starts) across just three seasons before being released, never stepping foot on an NFL field again as one of the most high-profile case studies in recent draft history.

Derek Carr would provide the Raiders their only real significant period of quarterback continuity since the turn of the century as he held down the starting role between 2014 and 2022, though he failed to record a playoff victory in that time.

Come 2026, any prospective Raiders quarterback faces the prospect of working with seven-time Super Bowl champion and minority team owner Tom Brady.

“It would mean the world,” Mendoza said on The Rich Eisen Show. “Tom Brady, he’s going to pour into whatever quarterback they take or that they sign, like Kirk Cousins.

“To have that opportunity would be great. If I get selected by the Raiders, he’d be a boss, so it wouldn’t be like how six-year-old Fernando envisioned it, you know, being best friends. But it would be cool, and I wanted to be pushed to be the best quarterback that I can become.”

Mendoza’s introduction would feature as part of a busy offseason window that has already seen the Raiders sign center Tyler Linderbaum to a three-year $81m contract, while bolstering their defense with the additions of defensive end Kwity Paye and linebacker duo Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker.

Brady and the Raiders meanwhile sought added veteran experience in the quarterback room ahead of Mendoza’s arrival by signing Kirk Cousins to a five-year $172m deal after being released by the Atlanta Falcons.

“I do think Fernando is going to be a great addition to our team,” said Cousins. “I think he’s going to have a great future in our league. I have no problem being a voice in the room to help him to the degree I can.

“He’s going to have great support around him with the coaching staff, but to be able to watch a veteran quarterback go through his habits and routines and process, that can be a great asset for him.”

Off the field

Mendoza recently explained he will not be in attendance at the Draft on Thursday night as he instead opts to celebrate the occasion at home with his family.

The decision is centred around the health of his mother Elsa, who is a wheelchair user having been living with multiple sclerosis for almost 20 years.

“I wanted to make the memory with everybody who poured into my football journey,” Mendoza he said on The Rich Eisen Show. “Mentors, family, coaches, friends. Being able to share that memory with all of them is going to be the best memory I can make.”

Mendoza, along with his brother Alberto, launched a fundraising campaign for the National MS Society in 2024, raising over $364,000 after setting an initial goal of $20,000.

Elsa published a letter to Fernando in The Players’ Tribune ahead of the Heisman Trophy ceremony, thanking her son for making her feel “seen” and the “opposite of embarrassed” in the “sweetest, strongest and most Fernando way possible”.

She meanwhile joked that not even the “great Tom Brady” was a Heisman finalist, a sentiment you like to think will come up in a conversation sometime once the pair unite in the Raiders facility.

“You have a future that’s so bright and a heart that’s so full,” she added, before describing Mendoza as her “gentle giant”.

Fernando Mendoza, rightly or wrongly, may not garner the same buzz as fellow No 1 pick quarterbacks amid a polarising year for his position’s class, but here comes a born leader with undeniable talent, for whom it is remarkably easy to root.

Watch all three days of the 2026 NFL Draft live on Sky Sports, with Day One under way from 1am in the early hours of Friday morning.

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