Everyone knows that Fernando Mendoza will soon be a member of the Las Vegas Raiders via the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. But nobody knows what his timeline will be for actually stepping on the field and playing or starting in a regular season game for the Silver and Black.
That hasn't stopped folks from speculating, however, even though John Spytek has made it quite clear that the best player will play, and nobody knows who that will be yet. And veteran Kirk Cousins claims that he doesn't even want to start if he's not the best option. It'll be a true quarterback battle.
But NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, who is one of the best in the business, seems to be writing in Mendoza as the starter in pen. With everyone in the football world knowing he's coming to Las Vegas, Jeremiah still said that he expects immediate success for the Raiders' young quarterback.
Las Vegas Raiders fans will love Daniel Jeremiah's expectations for Fernando Mendoza
Jeremiah spoke on NFL+ about the Indiana product just one day before the NFL Draft, and he broke down some of Mendoza's strengths and weaknesses. And although his review wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, Jeremiah is raising the bar higher for Mendoza than most others at this point.
"Mendoza is a very accurate thrower with excellent size, toughness, and enough athleticism. He operates out of the (shot)gun, he'll lean heavily on the RPO game, has really, really quick hands, makes good decisions, and he's very accurate on those quick throws," Jeremiah said. "If you want to see him make more NFL-type throws, it's really helpful to study his third-and-7-plus reel. That's where he shows the velocity to drive the ball in the seam, and also displays pinpoint placement on those back-shoulder throws. He'll occasionally hold the ball too long, hunting big plays in those situations. He can clean that up. He's insanely tough, routinely hanging in the pocket and absorbing big hits. He picks his spots as a runner, but he's logged some huge conversions. See the National Championship Game."
All that to say:
"I expect a lot of success very early in the career of Fernando Mendoza."
Now, Raider Nation expects Mendoza to eventually be a franchise quarterback. But to have so much success early in his career would be a dream. Most have succumbed to the idea that Mendoza will sit behind Cousins, at least for a little bit, but Jeremiah clearly isn't in that same frame of mind.
The Raiders have been bad for the majority of the last 20 seasons, and this is the only time that they ended up with the No. 1 overall pick and a clear chance at a franchise-changing player. Las Vegas can't mess this up, so it needs to carefully bring Mendoza along and make his job as easy as possible.
If he's the best quarterback on the roster and game-ready right away, however, then Jeremiah may be right about him having tons of early success in his career. And fans hope Jeremiah is right. But he's raising the bar for Mendoza before he plays a snap, when patience should be the name of the game.
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