{"id":646816,"date":"2026-01-02T00:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/646816\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T00:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:39:14","slug":"nfl-draft-prediction-las-vegas-raiders-take-indianas-fernando-mendoza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/646816\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Draft Prediction: Las Vegas Raiders Take Indiana\u2019s Fernando Mendoza"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> are the worst team in the NFL<\/a> and in possibly the worst situation as well.<\/p>\n

Head coach Pete Carroll is not the man for the future and already has one foot out the door. They moved from a city that loved them in Oakland to a town that is at best apathetic toward them in Las Vegas. The team is currently feuding with its lone star player, Maxx Crosby, who is being linked to new trades every single day.<\/p>\n

And worst of all, they have no quarterback of the future.<\/p>\n

Geno Smith was supposed to be a stable, veteran quarterback who brought them back to relevance and the postseason, but their all-in attempt on him was a massive bust.<\/p>\n

Now, heading into Week 18, going up against the Kansas City Chiefs in what could be Travis Kelce\u2019s last game, they\u2019re a single loss away from securing the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If they secure it, it will be the first time in almost two decades since they selected first overall. And like last time, I believe they\u2019re going to take a QB.<\/p>\n

But instead of drafting possibly the biggest bust in NFL history, LSU\u2019s JaMarcus Russell, I have them taking a thrower who has the work ethic and tools to become a franchise centerpiece.<\/p>\n

More news: Travis Kelce Addresses Emotions of Potentially Playing in Final NFL Game<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More news: 4 NFL Head Coaches on the Brink of Being Fired<\/a><\/p>\n

Prediction: Las Vegas Raiders draft Fernando Mendoza (Indiana<\/a>) in the 2026 NFL Draft<\/p>\n

Even in a world where the Raiders fall out of the top spot by beating the Chiefs, they should do everything in their power to get Mendoza.<\/p>\n

A surgical, high football IQ player who has only gotten better year after year is someone who can truly give the Raiders a personality they\u2019ve lacked for over a decade at this point. Not only is someone teammates rally behind him, but he\u2019s the type of player cities will rally behind.<\/p>\n

He isn\u2019t a generational signal caller that I believe will take the woeful Raiders to the top by 2026 or even 2027, but he\u2019s a player who isn\u2019t afraid to be thrown into situations where success isn\u2019t promised. He excelled at Cal Berkeley before moving to Indiana and helping them destroy Alabama in the College Football Playoff<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If the Raiders secure the first-pick on Sunday, it shouldn\u2019t be a question of whether they should draft Fernando Mendoza. It will be a question on how soon can they inform him that he is now part of the Raiders family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Las Vegas Raiders are the worst team in the NFL and in possibly the worst situation as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2065],"tags":[331,332,7,932,4725,1744,393,2455,2454,6,15,525],"class_list":{"0":"post-646816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-college-football-playoff","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indiana","12":"tag-indiana-hoosiers","13":"tag-las-vegas","14":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","15":"tag-lasvegas","16":"tag-lasvegasraiders","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-nfl-draft","19":"tag-raiders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115822721008130777","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646816","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=646816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}