The Raiders have the first pick in the 2026 draft and the expectation, as of now, is that they will take Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the pick.
Assuming Oregon’s Dante Moore enters the draft, there will be plenty of time to compare the top quarterbacks in the draft, but at least one NFL commenter on the national stage isn’t buying Mendoza as a worthy first overall pick.
Bomani Jones has bounced around sports talk radio and television for a couple of decades and has offered his share of controversial opinions in that time. His latest comments on Mendoza will be sure to cause a stir among Raider fans and the scouting community in general.
“I got people asking me [about] Fernando Mendoza. Is he what the Raiders need and I watched Mendoza. We’ll talk a little bit more about that game, and Mendoza looks like something I’ve seen very many times, which is a very good college quarterback,” Jones said on The Right Time with Bomani Jones.
“I know what the no. 1 pick in the draft look like. That ain’t it. Even if you think Cam Ward’s not going to be that guy, you look at Cam Ward with the Titans and you’re like ‘That guy was the no. 1 pick in the draft.’ You see that.”
“Mendoza. Eww. I don’t know.”
As an athlete, Mendoza doesn’t offer the athleticism that guys like Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen bring to the quarterback position, but he has shown the ability to do everything else necessary to be an elite quarterback at the NFL level.
At 6’5, Mendoza has good height and the arm strength to make NFL throws. He has shown above average pocket presence and as much as anything, he has shown the ability to excel at the quarterback position from an intellectual standpoint.
Tom Brady has always emphasized the mental side of playing quarterback and the importance of preparation and every indication is that Brady will be the dominant voice in the Raiders’ building when it comes to determining the next quarterback in Las Vegas.
Mendoza, it seems, is already preparing at a level many NFL quarterbacks haven’t matched.
During the second quarter of Thursday’s game against Alabama, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit talked about Mendoza’s preparation and the work he puts into the mental aspect of playing the quarterback position in college.
“He would tell you a big part of his success this year has been the prep. He feels like he has the answers,” Herbstreit said before the broadcast went to sideline reporter Holly Rowe.
“He’s been working with a sports psychologist all year,” Rowe added.
“And he’s really worked lately on ‘I have the answers to the puzzle. I know where the puzzle pieces need to go.’ His preparation is legendary. Before he even got to Indiana, he asked for a sheet of every player’s name and a picture of them so that by the time he got to his very first meeting and his very first practice, he had memorized every single kid. So he stepped into the building knowing his teammates, being able to call them by their first names and the preparation is legendary, just like you said.”
The hope with Mendoza would be that anything he lacks from an athletic standpoint, he could make up for with his other strengths – similar to the way Brady did for 23 NFL seasons.
x: @raidersbeat
Who the heck is Bomani Jones, and what do we care what he thinks?
lol for real. He knows what the #1 pick looks like lmao what a JOKE!
No yourba joke he’s 100% right Mendoza isn’t a #1 pick he ok Oregons Qb is equal but better because he is mobile! Not a 6’5″ stick in the mud before Bradys Dumb *** leads them to pick Mendoza please trade the #1 for more draft capital and build the Oline Mendoza is definitely not it!
I agree 100%! We need to trade back in accumulate picks. There’s nobody in this draft worth a top five pick. And we have too many needs.
Accumulate picks, So let’s keep Genos sorry A$$. Ridiculous in every way.
he got canned at ESPN…
“I know what the no. 1 pick in the draft look like.”
This guy is on the radio and can’t speak properly? Why would his opinion matter?
They were saying the same thing about Cam Ward, last year. The fact is that all draft picks are a gamble. Example: Ryan Leaf flopped, but Payton Manning didn’t. This guy is just trying to get his ratings up. Opinions are like a-holes, we all have them.
College ain’t the NFL. And 95% of his work is underneath and timing routes on the sideline. From a shotgun no less. You can’t run in the NFL successfully and keep defenses, honest out of shotgun.
Seen it before.