The Las Vegas Raiders drafted Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night.
Mendoza was the presumptive No. 1 overall pick for the entire draft process, and the Raiders are hoping against hope that he plays identically for the Raiders as he did in an Indiana Hoosiers uniform last season.
It remains to be seen how Mendoza translates to the NFL, but his jersey will at least look the same.
Mendoza held his introductory Raiders presser on Friday, and he debuted his No. 15 jersey in the silver and black, which is available for pre-order here.
Throughout his press conference, Mendoza continued his months-long streak of answering every question perfectly.
Mendoza recognized the weight that comes with wearing No. 15 for the Raiders, as Hall of Famer Tom Flores wore it as the starting quarterback in the franchise’s first-ever game.
When asked about his familiarity with Kirk Cousins, Mendoza said he’d received welcome texts from his new Raiders teammates Maxx Crosby, Tyler Linderbaum, Kolton Miller, and Cousins, and he couldn’t wait to work with and learn from all of them.
The Raiders signed Cousins, 37, earlier this month.
“I wouldn’t want him to come here if he didn’t want to start Week 1,” Raiders general manager John Spytek said of Cousins on “The Rich Eisen Show” earlier this week. “I wouldn’t want anybody in that room that doesn’t want to start. I’ve had great conversations with Kirk, and he understands he’s the most proven quarterback in that room.”
Newly hired Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak won Super Bowl LX in February as the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator. A few jobs ago, Kubiak was Cousins’ quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings from 2019 to 2021, and Cousins was a Pro Bowler in two of those seasons.
At the NFL annual league meeting in late March, Kubiak indicated that Mendoza would not be the team’s Week 1 starter in 2026: “Ideally, you don’t want him to start from day one. You’d love him to be able to learn behind somebody. That’s in a perfect world. It doesn’t always work out that way.”
You couldn’t dream up a better mentor for Mendoza than Cousins, given their similar traits. And, oh yeah, Mendoza will also be mentored in a roundabout way by Tom Brady, a minority owner of the Raiders.
Mendoza was not a preseason pick to win the Heisman or become the No. 1 overall pick, as he arrived at Indiana after two lackluster seasons at Cal-Berkeley.
But Mendoza won the Heisman en route to leading the Hoosiers to a 16-0 season, capped by the program’s first-ever national championship. He posted 3,535 yards and an FBS-best 41 passing touchdowns against just six interceptions on 72% completion.
“I haven’t proved anything,” Mendoza said on Friday. “My college career was very blessed, and it was great. Very significant career. However, in the NFL, I’m at the bottom of the totem pole again, so I’m really looking forward to proving it every single day to everybody in the building.”
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