The Raiders have a little more than three months to decide on the no. 1 pick in the draft, but the majority believe right now that Fernando Mendoza will be the next franchise quarterback in Las Vegas.
Mendoza is considered by almost everyone to be the best quarterback in the 2026 draft class, but could the Raiders consider trading the pick for more assets?
Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter talked about that possibility on Monday and he believes there is a scenario where the Raiders would consider a blockbuster deal for the no. 1 pick.
“I really like Mendoza. I’ve been telling you guys since before the season started that they like Mendoza before it was even popular,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“I would say right now it’s 65 percent [that the Raiders draft him]. It’s 30 percent that it is a trade and 5 percent if Dante comes out, which I’m not certain that he’s going to…. I’ve been telling you for weeks. A lot of people think Dante will go back to Oregon for the largest NIL deal of all time. That’s not factual, just the thought process. A lot of people disagree with me. No way he’s coming out. I’m just telling you what I’m hearing.”
Another familiar name weighed in on Mendoza and the Raiders this week, and flagship radio host ‘JT the Brick’ sounded a little more convinced that Mendoza will be joining the Silver & Black next year.
”I think he’s going to be our quarterback. I think he’s going to be the no. 1 pick. I think it’s a lock,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio show.
JT added that he is expecting a lot of noise around Mendoza in the next few months to keep the draft interesting.
“They’re not going to leave this guy alone,” JT said of Mendoza and the nitpicking of his play that is coming in the next three months.
“They’re going to look for the wart on Lincoln’s face. They’re going to look for the one thing that’s going to make him look like he’s not dependable, he’s not good enough, he’s not perfect. We don’t need anybody perfect.”
“But you need people on the other side to embrace debate. You can’t have 95 percent of media saying Fernando, doing memes of Fernando and dancing to some songs by ABBA. That gets old pretty quick.”
For anyone interesting in a dissenting voice on Mendoza, league analyst Bucky Brooks looks primed to fill that role from now until the end of April.
Here are Brooks’ comments alongside co-host Andy Furman on FOX Sports Radio from Sunday morning…
“There are Raiders fans that are ready to have a coronation about him being the next great quarterback. The next great quarterback to save the franchise.
In this [national championship game], what I hope for outside of a good game is I hope that [Mendoza] is tested a little bit in terms of [Indiana has] always kind of been able to dictate the terms. If you think about Indiana, they’ve always played ahead, they’ve been blowing out opponents and those things. I want to see what [Mendoza] looks like when it isn’t perfect for him, when it’s not a thing where he can just throw to the first read and he has to get to a second and third, when they are able to change the picture on this and everything systematically isn’t humming.
I know people are raving about his playoff stats, completing 86 percent of his passes 369 yards over two games, 8 touchdowns. That’s great, but and if you divide that up, most of the time when we talk about a quarterback, we wouldn’t go crazy over a quarterback having only 180-plus yards per game on average. That normally wouldn’t be something that we’re raving about or selling the celebrating.
We were talking about the efficiency being great, the effectiveness, but what we would also say is like, ‘Man, can he run it on his own? Put it on his shoulders? You remember the conversation a little bit about J.J. McCarthy was, ‘Hey, can he put it on his back because he didn’t throw a ton?
Well, for Fernando, there’s some of that. Even though look, without question, he’s QB1 in this class and I don’t even know who QB2 is and if QB2 is a first rounder, but the conversation about him, you still kind of want to continue to see him prove that he’s worthy of being celebrated as a first pick in the draft.”
x: @raidersbeat
Trade the pic for a bunch of ones. Build the lines fill the holes and use next year‘s first round picks to acquire Arch Manning.
Well the Raiders need to show consistency. Draft a 1st rounder with 4th round grade. Then trade away Kolton and Bowers for cheap linemen. Bring in Philip Rivers as our savior.
Typical Mark Davis moves when he’s stoned
You better have one hell of an offensive line if you’re bringing in an anchor like Rivers. He’ll be permanently retired before halftime on the first week.
You’re assuming said team won’t just take Manning themselves. Finishing 3-14 this year still got you the 4th overall pick.
We could get the Jets 5-6 1st rounders but we’d have to give them all back to get a quarterback anyways, and that’s if you can get the other team to trade cuz Washington wouldn’t give us Daniels.
Take Mendoza & even if it doesn’t work out we only spent one pick
THAT is the most prudent and expedient way to elevate this franchise.
Trade down for multiple RD1 picks. Fill some holes on the roster and use one of next year’s RD1 picks on a QB–a much better and much deeper class next year.
Ameer Abdullah, Josh Jacobs, Davante Adams, Robert Spillane, Demico Autry, Jacobi Meyers all did well for other teams, this year. These players were not the problem, Raiders “leadership” ( or more accurately the lack thereof) was. Tre Tucker’s and Michael Mayer’s “problems” are the Raiders organization, most specifically offensive line and inept quarterback play. If anyone doubts this then watch them go to another team and be productive. The Raiders need, in addition to a competent offensive line, veteran quarterback depth, namely Malik Willis as the starter, Joshua Dobbs as the backup and a rookie who won’t be under pressure to start immediately. That’s how you add competent depth at this position.
Zamir White, Dillon Laube, Tyree Wilson, Kenny Pickett, Geno Smith and Adian O’Connell all need to be let go. Additionally, it wouldn’t hurt to address the (not so) Special teams. The offensive line and Special Teams coaches could use a serious upgrade. It seems that we are stuck with the guys who call themselves “Raiders Management,” so let’s see how they, this year, address last year’s “team” that they put on the field. No matter what they do, all the sportswriters will talk about is how things are looking up, until the team actually starts playing games.