{"id":701314,"date":"2026-01-24T11:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/701314\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T11:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:15:18","slug":"fernando-mendoza-may-have-hinted-at-next-raiders-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/701314\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza May Have Hinted At Next Raiders Head Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> aren’t on the clock just yet, but it sounds like Fernando Mendoza will be their quarterback for Week 1 of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Mendoza appeared on NBC’s “TODAY” this Friday to discuss his incredible season with the Indiana Hoosiers as well as his future in the NFL<\/a>. Every analyst who covers this sport expects him to go No. 1 overall to the Raiders.<\/p>\n

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As Mendoza was chatting with NBC’s Craig Melvin, network co-host and Raiders fan Carson Daly interrupted the interview to wish the Heisman Trophy winner all the best as he enters the next chapter of his career.<\/p>\n

“Should you end up with us, I\u2019m sorry,” Daly said. “If you can win more than three games, you\u2019re a hero. You\u2019ve got [Ashton] Jeanty. You\u2019ve got [Brock] Bowers. We\u2019re going to get an O-line for ya. Should that be the place you land, we\u2019ll take care of you.”<\/p>\n

Mendoza’s response to Daly’s comments was quite interesting. He mentioned how the Raiders have a “great” coaching staff.<\/p>\n

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“The Raiders have a great culture, have a great coaching staff, great ownership group. It\u2019s all around,” Mendoza said<\/a>. “Those are legit guys. I\u2019d be happy to end anywhere.”<\/p>\n

\"Indiana's<\/p>\n

Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza (15) gets loose before the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026.\u00a9 Rich Janzaruk&sol;Herald-Times &sol; USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images&period;<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Rich Janzaruk&sol;Herald-Times &sol; USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images&period;)<\/p>\n

The Raiders don’t currently have a head coach. NFL fans are convinced Mendoza already knows who it’ll be.<\/p>\n

“Great coaching staff? What does he know,” a fan commented.<\/p>\n

“What does he mean by great coaching staff,” a second fan asked.<\/p>\n

“He knows something we don\u2019t Raider Nation. Our next head coach is in the playoffs guys,” another fan said.<\/p>\n

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Who will get the job in Las Vegas?<\/p>\n

The Raiders have already interviewed a handful of candidates, including former Miami Dolphins<\/a> head coach Mike McDaniel, Carolina Panthers<\/a> defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, and Seattle Seahawks<\/a> offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.<\/p>\n

Although there’s no guarantee a deal will materialize, Kubiak seems to be the odds-on favorite to coach the Raiders in 2026.<\/p>\n

All we know for certain is the next head coach of the Raiders will have a potential-packed quarterback under center.<\/p>\n

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This story was originally published by The Spun<\/a> on Jan 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL<\/a> section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Las Vegas Raiders aren’t on the clock just yet, but it sounds like Fernando Mendoza will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[260,20380,3619,7,4725,1744,393,2455,2454,251,6,525,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-701314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-carolina-panthers","9":"tag-carson-daly","10":"tag-fernando-mendoza","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-indiana-hoosiers","13":"tag-las-vegas","14":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","15":"tag-lasvegas","16":"tag-lasvegasraiders","17":"tag-miami-dolphins","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-raiders","20":"tag-seattle-seahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115949793364635075","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701314","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=701314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}