Fernando Mendoza can impact the Las Vegas Raiders, or if another team miraculously drafts him, right away per Nick Saban. The former Alabama coach compared Mendoza coming out in this year’s draft compared to a star-studded 2024 class that featured Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye.
The former Indiana quarterback won the Heisman Trophy and led the Hoosiers to an undefeated season, winning the national championship 2025-26. It’s easy to see why he’s likely the No. 1 overall pick by the Raiders, despite the fact that he might sit behind Kirk Cousins for a season.
But he won’t be on the bench too long it seems. The way Saban sees it, Mendoza is probably in the mold of the loaded 2024 class that got going right away.
“I’m big on making comparisons,” Saban said on The Pat McAfee Show. “So you go through the scenarios where quarterbacks got to sit behind somebody, and I think the biggest failure rate in the NFL is because quarterbacks play before they should. But if you look at the three guys two years ago, Caleb makes an impact in Chicago, (Jayden) makes a big impact in Washington, (Drake) makes a makes a big impact in New England. So those guys played pretty much right away and improved dramatically quickly, but a lot of failures in the NFL play before they’re ready at the position, lose their confidence, and then … it’s over.
Fernando Mendoza instant impact QB in NFL?
“So I do think if you were going to compare Fernando, you would say he fits more into comparing them to those three guys we just talked about than he does to some of these other guys. He would be in the conversation if he was in that draft. And I agree with you on the RPOs and but the guy is sneaky athletic. Doesn’t look athletic, but probably better than he is. He’s accurate throwing the ball, He’s smart, he’s a good decision maker, and he’s accurate. So those things are really, really important, in my opinion. And I think he’s got the right mindset, and he’s improved a lot through his college career. So I’m not saying he won’t have some bumps in the road, I but I also think that he could be pretty damn good.”
Last season, Mendoza threw for 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 72% completion percentage. In three seasons with Cal and Indiana, Mendoza threw for 8,247 yards, 71 touchdowns, 22 interceptions and a 68.6% completion percentage.
As a member of the Class of 2022, Mendoza was a three-star recruit out of Miami (Fla.) Columbus, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking. He was the No. 267 overall prospect in the state, the No. 127 quarterback in the class and the No. 1,929 overall prospect in the class.