{"id":780861,"date":"2026-02-27T22:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T22:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/780861\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T22:57:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T22:57:19","slug":"fernando-mendoza-reveals-wild-nfl-draft-interview-request-to-get-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/780861\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza reveals wild NFL Draft interview request to get arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"

Off-the-wall questioning is fairly common during the evaluation process leading up to the NFL Draft<\/a>. Sometimes, head coaches and front office members throw random questions at players during interviews simply to see how they react when things go off-kilter.<\/p>\n

In Fernando Mendoza’s<\/a> case, the most bizarre moment he’s encountered so far during draft interviews wasn’t a question at all. Instead, it was a request that he find himself in handcuffs. Literally.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know if I can say this,” a smirking Mendoza said when CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala asked about the strangest questions he’s received. “It was, ‘Hey, maybe you should get arrested.'”<\/p>\n

Mendoza clarified that the team suggesting he get arrested did so in hopes it would impact his draft stock enough for him to slide out of being the No. 1 overall pick, which he is widely expected to be. He also quickly noted the club was not one of the teams he had a formal interview with.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully, I don’t get arrested,” he chuckled.<\/p>\n

Of course, this was a tongue-in-cheek remark from a team wishing it were in position to select Mendoza. That’s especially true with this year’s draft class lacking high-end quarterback talent, while the free agent and trade markets also don’t feature clear-cut cornerstone options.<\/p>\n

The Indiana<\/a> signal-caller is the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a>, which means he’s currently projected to land in Las Vegas with the Raiders. During his press conference Friday, he gave a rave review of his formal interview with the organization.<\/p>\n

“It was a fantastic interview,” Mendoza said, via\u00a0NFL.com<\/a>. “Coaching staff was in there. We went over some of my previous plays and did plays on the board. I thought it was a great meeting. I know they have the No. 1 pick, but anything can happen in the draft. Excited for the opportunity and whatever team drafts me, I am going to give everything I got to them.”<\/p>\n

He also added that he’d be thrilled wherever he ends up, “whether it’s the No. 1 pick or whether it’s, you know, the 199th pick.” That was a not-so-subtle nod to his likely soon-to-be boss, Raiders minority owner Tom Brady, who was famously the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza explains what he wants to learn most from Tom Brady if he’s drafted No. 1 by the Raiders<\/p>\n

\n Robby Kalland <\/p>\n

\"Fernando<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Mendoza is coming off a historic 2025 season for the Hoosiers, leading the program to a 16-0 record, a Heisman Trophy and a win over Miami<\/a> in the CFP National Championship. He completed 72% of his passes for 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns and just six interceptions while also adding 276 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Off-the-wall questioning is fairly common during the evaluation process leading up to the NFL Draft. Sometimes, head coaches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[331,3619,110518,110514,79088,94798,7,4725,393,6,15,15729,110517,110515,110519,110516,1369],"class_list":{"0":"post-780861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-fernando-mendoza","10":"tag-fernando-mendoza-arrested-quote","11":"tag-fernando-mendoza-interview","12":"tag-fernando-mendoza-nfl-draft","13":"tag-fernando-mendoza-raiders","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-indiana-hoosiers","16":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-nfl-draft","19":"tag-nfl-draft-2026","20":"tag-nfl-draft-interview-questions","21":"tag-nfl-draft-interviews","22":"tag-nfl-draft-prospect-intervie","23":"tag-no-1-overall-pick-2026-nfl-draft","24":"tag-tom-brady"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116145073061119108","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780861","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=780861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}