{"id":780022,"date":"2026-02-27T14:23:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/780022\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T14:23:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:23:23","slug":"fernando-mendoza-excited-about-maybe-playing-for-raiders-and-tom-brady-who-hasnt-admired-tom-brady-guys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/780022\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza excited about maybe playing for Raiders and Tom Brady: ‘Who hasn\u2019t admired Tom Brady, guys?’"},"content":{"rendered":"

This NFL Draft centers around Fernando Mendoza.<\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t many other prospects who are already household names. There\u2019s certainly not another quarterback guaranteed to be picked in the top half of the first round. The one ready-made star entering the NFL Draft is the Indiana quarterback who led the traditionally bereft Hoosiers to a 16-0 national championship, one of the great stories in American team sports.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a draft with a lot of sizzle. But there\u2019s Mendoza, who is a heavy favorite to go first overall to the Las Vegas Raiders. To nobody\u2019s surprise Mendoza said Friday at the NFL scouting combine he had a formal interview with the Raiders, in which he went over plays he ran in college and drew plays on the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a fantastic interview,\u201d Mendoza said at the podium, via The Draft Network<\/a>. \u201cI thought it was a great meeting. I know they have the prospective No. 1 pick, but anything can happen in the draft. I\u2019m just excited for the opportunity and whatever team drafts me I\u2019m going to give them everything I\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Brady is a minority owner in the Raiders and he has a say in personnel decisions, so Mendoza and Brady will be connected if the Raiders pick Mendoza as expected. The chance to be mentored by Brady is appealing to a young quarterback like Mendoza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho hasn\u2019t admired Tom Brady, guys?\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Mendoza said he got a chance to talk to Brady already.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to say a brief hi on the phone to Brady. That was very special to me,\u201d Mendoza said, via WISH-TV<\/a>. \u201cLook forward to meeting him in person, hopefully, one day, and learning from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendoza was at his NFL scouting combine media availability a minute before scheduled, and at one point politely directed a question to \u201csomeone who hasn\u2019t asked yet,\u201d which tracks. Mendoza\u2019s intangibles are a big reason he played so well and why he is considered the top quarterback in the draft. He also has an NFL skill set, which is a big reason he won a Heisman Trophy.<\/p>\n

\"Fernando<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza, who helped lead the Indiana Hoosiers to a national championship, is expected to go first overall in the NFL Draft. (Photo by CFP\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

(CFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Raiders wanted the first overall pick badly enough that they shut down key players late, including defensive end Maxx Crosby against his wishes, in a pretty clear attempt to lose games. It worked and Las Vegas has been on the clock with the first pick since the season ended.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Mendoza, who mentioned a couple times as he remained humble that he isn\u2019t guaranteeing he\u2019ll be the top pick of the draft, said being a leader for any NFL team starts with playing well and that\u2019s what he\u2019s most<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where all my focus goes: football, football, football,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n

Mendoza isn\u2019t a sure-fire top prospect at quarterback like some of the No. 1 overall picks of recent past. There was a stir this week when ESPN\u2019s Dan Orlovsky said that Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson, expected to be the second quarterback selected, had better tape<\/a> in the first half of the season than Mendoza. Mendoza wasn\u2019t a big high-school prospect either and became the best player in college football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a raw prospect,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cI was terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

He improved from humble beginnings to likely being the first pick of the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the pick has not been selected yet,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cWhatever team drafts me, I\u2019m extremely grateful, Whether it\u2019s No. 1 pick or the last pick in the draft, I\u2019d be blessed and honored to be drafted by any team and give them my all.\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This NFL Draft centers around Fernando Mendoza. There aren\u2019t many other prospects who are already household names. There\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1774,3619,7,4725,1744,6563,6,15,1967,525,5654,110472,1369,20708],"class_list":["post-780022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl-draft","tag-dan-orlovsky","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-football","tag-indiana-hoosiers","tag-las-vegas","tag-maxx-crosby","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-nfl-scouting-combine","tag-raiders","tag-the-raiders","tag-theres-mendoza","tag-tom-brady","tag-ty-simpson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116143051125473699","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780022","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=780022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}