Fernando Mendoza is one of the best quarterback prospects to enter the draft in years, but the expectation in Las Vegas is that the Raiders will ease him into action and potentially wait until the second half of the season to put him on the field.
According to reports, Mendoza had a few difficult stretches during OTAs, but anyone who watched the Heisman winner handle adversity over the course of his college career, knows Mendoza will stick to his process and learn from mistakes.
Last week, long-time Raiders beat writer Vinny Bonsignore talked about Mendoza’s rise from being a relative unknown and shared a story an NFL executive told him this year.
According to Bonsignore, he asked the executive if anyone could have seen Mendoza’s meteoric rise coming.
“Going into the 2025 season… could you have seen, based on what you knew of him, going into last year, that [Mendoza] would be that guy?” Bonsingore said he asked the executive.
“And he said, it’s really interesting, because the answer was ‘No.’ And he went so far as to say [he] went and saw him in the spring, and it was rough. In fact, his brother outplayed him. Alberto Mendoza outplayed [Fernando] in the practices that this guy had seen and in the spring game. What ultimately happened was he just kept getting better and better.”
No doubt, there will be a learning curve for Mendoza at the NFL level (though he isn’t going to be outplayed by his younger brother this time around), but the Raiders are committed to giving him time to develop behind Kirk Cousins.
For his part, Mendoza seems committed to be patient with himself, too.
Mendoza commented last week on the learning process he’s going through, and his perspective sounded like a seasoned veteran.
“I think there’s always a transition, especially from the college level to the NFL level,” Mendoza told members of the media at OTAs..
“It’s having those positive stressors, and that growing period, There are going to be some growing pains,” Mendoza continued. “Luckily, I feel confident that I’m able to see the field well. My growing pains are coming from, ‘Hey, I’ve got to time up my footwork a little bit with the routes,’ and intricacies here and there. I’m really working hard with the coaching staff, who are pushing me, and have done a phenomenal job of relaying and communicating the information needed. It’s up to me take full advantage of that.”
“I feel like I’ve been growing every day, from the first day of OTAs, then today at minicamp. I feel like I’m leaps and bounds ahead of where I was.”
x: @raidersbeat