Fernando Mendoza sat centered on a couch, his parents positioned to one side, and his brother, Alberto, on the other, while additional family members filled the surrounding space. The former Hoosier received the phone call he had anticipated for months. Smiles broke across the room as Mendoza embraced his family members, before putting on a silver and black embroidered hat.
With that moment, the Las Vegas Raiders made it official, selecting him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday.
Mendoza began his collegiate career at the University of California Berkeley in 2022 as an overlooked freshman. The Miami native arrived as a two-star recruit, before redshirting his first year with the program.
Four years later, Mendoza was the star of college football. He led Indiana football to its first national championship in program history and the first 16-0 season in the modern college football landscape, while being named the Heisman Trophy winner. He is also the next face of the Raiders organization.
“College was fantastic,” Mendoza said Thursday. “I’m so blessed to have that career. But now I step into a great game in the NFL. I look forward to proving and earning it every single day.”
Mendoza first met with the Raiders at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, despite opting not to throw at the event.
"I was lucky enough to have a formal interview with the Las Vegas Raiders,” Mendoza said Feb. 27 at the combine. “It was a fantastic interview. The coaching staff was in there. We went over some of my previous plays, drew up some plays on the board. I thought it was a great meeting.”
Most of the Raiders’ coaching staff and front office personnel were in attendance for the first meeting with their young quarterback. Even Tom Brady, a minority owner of the team and “football idol” of Mendoza, briefly spoke with him over the phone.
“Who hasn’t admired Tom Brady?” Mendoza said. “That guy has more Super Bowl rings than anybody, so that opportunity would be fantastic. Tom Brady, I believe, is the greatest quarterback of all time by a wide margin. And to be able to have the opportunity to be mentored by him would –– it would mean so much.”
Mendoza added that the Raiders brass is “very football savvy.” Throughout his formal interview, Mendoza and Raiders personnel watched previous film and went through various progressions and scenarios.
Instead of throwing at the combine, Mendoza participated in Indiana’s pro day April 1. Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak, general manager John Spytek and several other members of the team’s scouting department attended the event to watch their quarterback throw.
The Raiders finished tied for a league-worst 3-14 record in 2025 under former head coach Pete Carrol, who was fired after the conclusion of the regular season. Kubiak, who was hired Feb. 9, brings a high-level offensive mind to the team. He enters his first year at the helm in Las Vegas after serving as the offensive coordinator for the 2025 Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. Kubiak helped engineer a Seattle offense that racked up 28.4 points scored per game, which ranked third in the NFL, and guided a top 10 passing attack.
Kubiak offered high praise for Mendoza during the NFL’s annual league meeting March 31.
“He’s a winner,” Kubiak said. “He’s accurate. He’s quick. He’s strong. He’s tall. He’s intelligent.”
Mendoza entered the draft as the consensus No. 1 pick and the presumptive future of the Raiders, but the former Heisman Trophy winner acknowledged a shortcoming in his game at pro day — inexperience under center. Mendoza only took 3% of his snaps from under center during his lone season at Indiana, per ESPN. Kubiak’s offensive system heavily relies on under center snaps to keep defense off guard and set up play-action passes.
“And that’s a big adjustment you need to get used to,” Mendoza said. “That and just the nature of the game. Not only that, the hashes are also more condensed and the speed of the game’s gonna be faster. So all those things I look forward to learning — learning from the new coaching staff I’ll be blessed to have. And in that, there might be some failures, but gotta turn those into some successes.”
To help smooth this transition, Mendoza has worked closely with former NFL quarterback and assistant coach Brian Griese, NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said in a March 27 appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. Kubiak and Griese spent the 2023 season together with the San Francisco 49ers. Now, Griese is helping Mendoza learn Kubiak’s “West Coast offense.”
“With Brian (Griese), I was able to work a lot under center, and a lot of concepts that I would be running in every offense, whether it’s the West Coast offense or not, so day one I’m comfortable going under center, saying a cadence, calling a play in the huddle,” Mendoza said in an appearance on the “Up and Adams” show Monday.
While Mendoza is the presumptive quarterback of the future for the Raiders, the team brought in competition April 2, signing quarterback Kirk Cousins to a contract. Entering his 15th NFL campaign, Cousins will be 38 years old at the start of the new season, making the move more of an additional veteran presence for Mendoza, rather than a long-term solution.
Cousins’ signing provides Mendoza with proven veteran leadership — one that has thrived in similar offensive systems, as Cousins worked with Kubiak on the Minnesota Vikings from 2019-2021. On the “Up and Adams” show, Mendoza said he talked to Cousins during his top-30 visit at the Raiders facility.
“Funny enough, when I was at Berkeley, I just watched him just to learn from his game — the way that he reads defenses and his footwork,” Mendoza said.
Although it is still unknown whether Mendoza will be the Raiders’ day-one starter, his track record suggests he will be ready when the opportunity comes. The No. 1 overall pick consistently exceeded expectations in college. Now, he’ll be tasked with doing it again on football’s biggest stage.
“What a great organization,” Mendoza said Thursday. “Great legacy. There’s so many great teammates I’m looking forward to talking to. Coaches, owners — I’m ecstatic for the opportunity.”
Follow reporter Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football offseason.
