I want to say something that I think a lot of people in Raider Nation already feel but may not have heard it clearly: A lot of the activity against Fernando Mendoza ramped up right when it became clear he was going to Las Vegas. Make of that what you will.
Now look, I'm not here to pretend there aren't legitimate questions about Mendoza's game. there are. He played almost entirely out of the shotgun at Indiana. Only 3% of his college photos came under the center. He will need to adjust to reading defenses that play with different guises than anything he has faced in the Big Ten. Those are real things, and any honest assessment has to include them.
But here's what I also know: No quarterback prospect is a sure shot. Not always. Not one. Trevor Lawrence was "generational". Bryce Young was "much more sophisticated than his age". JaMarcus Russell was compared to John Elway, and I'm not making this up. The NFL has humbled every consensus person at one point or another. So when an anonymous NFL offensive coach tells The Athletic he likes Ty Simpson, it's an opinion. This does not make Mendoza damaged goods. This makes him a prospect – like every other player who has ever been drafted.
One part of Mendoza's resume that critics continue to overlook is that he doesn't fit neatly into scouting reports.
Raiders smart in looking at Fernando Mendoza's intangibles
This guy transferred from Cal to Indiana and won a national championship. Led the Hoosiers to a 16–0 record. Won the Heisman. Throwed 41 touchdowns against six interceptions. Led a game-winning drive at Penn State. Lost the Big Ten Championship game against Ohio State and came back to win it. Those are not system statistics. He is a child who plays bigger than the moment, every time the moment becomes bigger.
Dan Orlowski watched eight games and said he saw "a lot of clean pockets." You know what else you saw in those games? An undefeated season. A quarterback who understood exactly where to go with the football and did so with speed time and again against the best defense in the country. Complaining about having clean pockets is strange. Elite quarterbacks are expected to create clean pockets with their pre-snap reads and decision making. This is called being good.
The ongoing Jared Goff comparison on FS1 seems like an insult. But Jared Goff just won a Super Bowl. He has been one of the most efficient passers in the NFL over the past three seasons. If Mendoza's destination is Jared Goff, the Raiders should feel pretty good about that bet.
Attackers are making calculated and educated bets on Mendoza
And that's really the point. This is a condition. This is always a condition. Every first overall pick is a bet. The Raiders haven't had a franchise quarterback to speak of since Rich Gannon arrived in 2002. It's almost a quarter century of carousing quarterbacks, seasons ruined, and fans watching other teams thrive while Las Vegas was spinning its wheels. Mendoza gives this franchise a legitimate chance to kill it.
Tom Brady, who knows a thing or two about evaluating quarterbacks, has said a lot about him. Four NFL executives told The Athletic that they view Mendoza as the unanimous top selection. PFF graded him at 91.6 for the season. His adjusted completion percentage ranked second in the nation.
Some criticisms are valid assessments. Most of this is just noise from the joint week. We live in the era of hot takes for content generated at a time when the likes of Raiders were already a foregone conclusion and the only way to get clicks was to go against the grain. Raider Nation has seen that movie before.
Mendoza is the winner. His numbers support it and his character supports it even more. For a franchise that has been waiting so long, this is not something you can talk yourself into.
