CBS Sports\u2019 Ryan Wilson has the Pittsburgh Steelers landing Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza in his latest way-too-early 2026 NFL mock draft. Mendoza is a rising QB in this year\u2019s class.<\/p>\n
\u201cPocket passer but not a statue; he buys time with subtle pocket movements, excels off-platform and when needed, can stride out in open field.\u201d Wilson\u00a0wrote<\/a>. \u201cWill get through reads while hanging in a pocket closing in around him. Consistently played with pressure in his face, yet consistently stood tall in the pocket and delivered strikes to all three levels on time and accurately. Ball consistently comes out on time and with touch\/accuracy to all three levels. Good feel for pocket pressure, can climb with eyes downfield and deliver accurately off-platform.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Mendoza spent his first three seasons at California with the Golden Bears, where he posted over 3,000 passing yards in a breakout redshirt sophomore campaign. This past offseason, he entered the transfer portal and ultimately chose to take his talents to Indiana, where he\u2019ll suit up for the Hoosiers this fall. Standing at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds with a strong arm, Mendoza fits the mold of a traditional pocket passer but also brings underrated athleticism to the position.<\/p>\n Mendoza was Derrick Bell of Steelers Now\u2019s No. 1 QB coming out of early summer scouting<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe physical tools are intriguing: he\u2019s got good size and a howitzer for an arm, but his advanced feel for the game is what makes him most unique amongst his peers,\u201d Bell wrote. \u201cSo many of his best reps last season came in high-leverage situations with a less than stellar supporting cast.\u00a0He\u2019s accurate, aspires to play on-time football from the pocket, all while still being athletic enough for the next level.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s obviously some projection baked in here with this sort of outlook. He needs to cut down on some of the negative plays, but you\u2019d rather a young player try things and work through mistakes rather than have to be coaxed into aggressiveness down the line. Even if it requires a trade up into the top ten, the Steelers cannot afford to wait any longer to make a splash at the sport\u2019s most important position. No more half measures! With the NFL Draft in their own backyard<\/a>, this has a chance to be one of the more iconic moments in recent memory.\u201d<\/p>\n Lance Zierlein<\/a> of NFL.com projects the Steelers to have four compensatory picks in the 2026 NFL Draft \u2014 one in Round 3, one in Round 4, one in Round 5 and one in Round 6. In total, the Steelers are expected to have 12 picks.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The 2026 NFL Draft class is absolutely loaded with talent<\/a>. The class could include Texas\u2019 Arch Manning, Penn State\u2019s Drew Allar, South Carolina\u2019s LaNorris Sellers, LSU\u2019s Garrett Nussmeier, Clemson\u2019s Cade Klubnik, Arizona State\u2019s Sam Leavitt, UCLA\u2019s Nico Iamaleava, Oregon\u2019s Dante Moore and Miami\u2019s Carson Beck.<\/p>\n The loaded crop of quarterbacks in 2026 is good news for the Steelers, as they are in desperate need of a franchise QB. The extra picks also give general manager Omar Khan ammunition to trade up in the draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on Steelers Now<\/a>: Steelers Land Rising QB in Latest Way-Too-Early 2026 Mock Draft<\/a><\/p>\n Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CBS Sports\u2019 Ryan Wilson has the Pittsburgh Steelers landing Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza in his latest way-too-early 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[615,5385,2037,6446,22859,1800,3619,7,46783,1802,6,15,3861,57,1293,3246],"class_list":{"0":"post-226515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-arch-manning","9":"tag-cade-klubnik","10":"tag-carson-beck","11":"tag-dante-moore","12":"tag-derrick-bell","13":"tag-drew-allar","14":"tag-fernando-mendoza","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-francisco-mendoza","17":"tag-garrett-nussmeier","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-nfl-draft","20":"tag-pittsburgh-panthers","21":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","22":"tag-qb","23":"tag-ryan-wilson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114895800504265348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}