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Las Vegas Raiders GM John Spytek.
The Las Vegas Raiders have seemingly been locked in on Fernando Mendoza for months. The Indiana quarterback had an impressive run to lead his team to a National Championship.
However, that doesn’t mean the Raiders always had tunnel vision on him. With the team holding the No. 1 pick, there’s a lot of pressure to make the right decision.
Prior to being locked in on Mendoza, the Raiders were doing homework on several other quarterback prospects. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer revealed the four quarterbacks Las Vegas took a close look at.
“Going into the 2025 season, and after dealing for Geno Smith as a bridge quarterback, the Raiders had a pretty good idea that ’26 might be the draft where they find their triggerman of the future,” Breer wrote. “So they got eyes on those guys early. Assistant GM Brian Stark was in Oregon to see Ducks star Dante Moore square off against Mendoza in October. GM John Spytek saw Oklahoma’s John Mateer live against Auburn in September. He and Stark saw Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby against TCU in November. Senior personnel executive Anthony Patch and college director Brandon Yeargan saw guys like Alabama’s Ty Simpson, too.
“And as the season wound down, Spytek himself got shots to hone in on Mendoza, seeing him live on a frigid night at Purdue on Nov. 28 (the night before the Cincinnati-TCU game), then again against Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 9 (where he saw Moore, too), and a third time in the national title game (with minority owner Tom Brady alongside him) against Miami.”
Out of those four, only Simpson declared for the draft, and while there’s been debate about whether or not he’s a better prospect than Mendoza, the Raiders seem to favor the Indiana quarterback.
Raiders Believe Mendoza Consistently Got Better
Mendoza wasn’t a huge household name prior to the last college football season. He was a solid player at California, but he took a major leap forward at Indiana.
One of the most appealing things about Mendoza is that he’s an ascending player.
“During Indiana’s run, the Raiders moved on from Pete Carroll and hired Klint Kubiak, who dove right into the quarterback-vetting process, one that would have Spytek, his scouts and Kubiak and his coaches at the point now, two months later, where those in the inner circle have all watched every snap Mendoza played both at Cal and Indiana,” Breer wrote. “What they saw was a player who consistently got better—maybe best evidenced this past year by the drop in his sack numbers, a result of being on a better team, yes, but also a quarterback playing faster.”
Raiders Turning Over Every Stone
On the surface, taking Mendoza seems like an easy choice, but if the Raiders get this wrong, a lot of people are going to get fired. According to Breer, the team has done all the homework they can to make sure Mendoza is the guy.
“Then, next week, the Raiders will bring Mendoza to Vegas on his 30 visit, when they’ll be able to introduce him to those in and around the team, and build off the other meetings, in trying to dot every i and cross every t,” Breer wrote.
“And that, of course, is the whole idea here—every stone needs to be turned over.”
Austin Boyd has covered the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Lakers for Heavy.com since 2019. A Los Angeles native now based in Las Vegas, his featured work at Heavy includes interviews with NFL stars Darren Waller and Joe Montana, and a behind-the-scenes look at “The Shop.” More about Austin Boyd
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