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Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) looks for a receiver against the University of Miami during the first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game at the Hard Rock Stadium on Monday Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (L.E. Baskow\/Las Vegas Review-Journal\/TNS) <\/p>\n
LAS VEGAS \u2014 It\u2019s not going to be the same. At least that\u2019s what everyone with the Raiders hopes and \u2014 you can imagine \u2014 believes.<\/p>\n
The team has for the first time since 2007 a first overall selection in the NFL draft and is expected to make Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza the pick.<\/p>\n
They also chose a quarterback the last time at No. 1.<\/p>\n
JaMarcus Russell is still fuming at the insinuation he was an all-time bust. No matter what facts are presented.<\/p>\n
Russell and former LSU teammate Dwayne Bowe have taken to coaching at their All-Pro Academy, which they founded. The goal of such camps is to offer concentrated NFL training designed to instantly elevate a player\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
To help youth sharpen skills between seasons.<\/p>\n
Teaching kids<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are guys who really have no mentorship, and this is a good time to do this because of all the stuff JaMarcus went through,\u201d said Bowe, who played nine NFL seasons at wide receiver. \u201cIt\u2019s time to teach these kids the business side, how to deal with pressure and adversity. Why not learn it from the guys who have the proper information?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can change one kid\u2019s life, we can change all of them. I think the important lesson we can teach them is how to manage life and not just football. Things about being a man. JaMarcus can now tell his story. It comes from his mouth. Everybody goes through things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell, now 40, went through a lot as a Raider and much of it was his own doing.<\/p>\n
He signed a six-year contract worth $68 million with $31.5 million guaranteed. Had all the tools. But his commitment to the organization and his craft was questioned from almost the beginning of his time. His fitness often was criticized.<\/p>\n
He was gone after three seasons, having thrown 18 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. He had lasted 31 games. Never again played in the NFL. That\u2019s where the bust label comes into the narrative.<\/p>\n
It was the late owner Al Davis who wanted more than anything to draft Russell, believing his size and arm strength would translate into a franchise-changing player. Some in the organization, including then-coach Lane Kiffin, disagreed.<\/p>\n
Mark Davis, Al\u2019s son who now owns the Raiders, will certainly be involved in any decision regarding Mendoza. But the former has said he will leave it to general manager John Spytek and coach Klint Kubiak to make such final calls.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the first pick in the draft is exciting because we kind of control the draft \u2014 we get to make the decision on who we\u2019re gonna pick,\u201d Davis has said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve had that position before, and it didn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there\u2019s no magic bullet there, but it\u2019s a great opportunity to get a great player, whoever they decide to pick.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s different<\/p>\n
You have Mendoza, who led Indiana to a 16-0 record and national championship while completing 72% of his passes, as an obvious choice. Whether it\u2019s obvious he has a better chance to succeed than Russell is anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n
But, by all accounts, it appears he does.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe needs to take it one day at a time and reach out to other guys who went No. 1 and to figure out all the pressure that comes with it,\u201d Bowe said. \u201cYou saw that with JaMarcus.<\/p>\n
\u201cMendoza seems ready for this and is a well-rounded, all-together type of guy. JaMarcus and I want to grow those types of athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell on the \u201cRaw Room\u201d podcast seemed to blame things such as a lack of talent at wide receiver, a coaching staff that didn\u2019t want him and a losing culture for most of his downfall. He blamed a lot of people other than himself.<\/p>\n
But what happened was on him as much as anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cLane was the head coach, so I really didn\u2019t have to deal with Lane,\u201d Russell said. \u201cI dealt with (assistant coaches). Me and (Kiffin) didn\u2019t have bad interactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t give us time to be who we needed to be, even though he didn\u2019t want me. \u2026 Things just weren\u2019t set up for success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirk Morrison is a former Raiders linebacker and now team broadcast analyst who played with Russell. He sees stark differences between then and now, between what occurred with Russell and how Mendoza might integrate himself into whatever NFL locker room he finds himself.<\/p>\n
One point: The collective bargaining agreement was different in 2007 and Russell held out of training camp, basically missing an entire offseason of work. It\u2019s different now with the rookie wage scale. Mendoza will more than benefit from an intense offseason learning the ins and outs of being an NFL quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s similar to what happened at Indiana,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cJust surround him with good players and he will elevate them. Guys who weren\u2019t household names became household names because of Fernando\u2019s work ethic and tenacity. Allow him to be him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to pick up an offense. He\u2019s that smart. Just have the pieces around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keys to kingdom<\/p>\n
Morrison broadcast games when Mendoza was quarterback at California, before the transfer to Indiana, before 16-0 and a national title, before the fame and destiny of being a No. 1 overall selection.<\/p>\n
Back when the quarterback was a mere diamond in the rough and not ranked among the best at his position nationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoaches would always say, \u2018Fernando wants to know the why of every single play,\u2019 \u201d Morrison said. \u201cThat\u2019s all. \u2018Hey, why are we using this motion, why are we running this play, why are we using this split?\u2019 It was in a good way. So, he can always keep the repetition the same or how important his play-fake is or how important the receiver\u2019s motion of offensive line checks are.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part is the player here. He\u2019s going to show you how to make him the best player he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
It never happened with Russell.<\/p>\n
Morrison reminds that Kiffin was fired four games into Russell\u2019s second season, that the sort of upheaval surrounding that time wouldn\u2019t be an issue for Mendoza.<\/p>\n
That those like Spytek and Kubiak should bring a sense of continuity the Raiders didn\u2019t have back in the mid-2000s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really thought the world of JaMarcus and still think the world of him,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cI don\u2019t think he really understood the magnitude of what it meant to be the No. 1 overall pick, to have the keys to the organization and having guys depend on him and his performance week in and week out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe structure of what was going on with the coaching staff internally was tough all the way around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morrison brings up that the Raiders were coming off a 2-14 season and were trying to change the culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a lot to put on a young quarterback who basically missed an entire offseason,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cHe was learning on the run and here you go, the keys. I don\u2019t know if anybody is ready for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a heavy weight to burden if you\u2019re not prepared for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Raiders must hope and believe Mendoza is.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t 2007. That\u2019s a lifetime ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) looks for a receiver against the University of Miami during the first half…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[7,1744,393,2455,2454,6,525],"class_list":{"0":"post-871642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-las-vegas","10":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","11":"tag-lasvegas","12":"tag-lasvegasraiders","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-raiders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116446618646462153","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871642","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=871642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}