INDIANAPOLIS — At the NFL Combine, it’s customary for prospects to get bombarded with questions about which teams they’ve met with.
Have you talked to the Buccaneers?
Have you met with the Jets?
And so on.
But at his combine press conference on Friday, Fernando Mendoza didn’t have to field a single one of those questions. No, reporters simply asked how his meeting with the Raiders went. That’s because it’s a virtual lock that the Indiana quarterback will go No. 1 overall to join rookie head coach Klint Kubiak in Las Vegas.
“It was a fantastic interview,” Mendoza told reporters. “I know they have the prospective No. 1 pick, but anything could happen in the draft. I’m just excited for the opportunity, and whatever team drafts me, I’m gonna give it everything I got.”
Fernando Mendoza speaks to the media during the 2026 NFL Draft Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on Feb. 27. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Not every team is enamored with Mendoza. Not every media member is enamored with him. But he is so clearly the No. 1 pick that he fielded a question about what he’d say to a team that didn’t draft him first overall.
And Mendoza showed the type of guy he is — generous, earnest — with his answer.
“Nothing. There’s so many great guys in this class,” Mendoza said. “I’m just honored to be a part of the group. There’d be no hard feelings. … I’m just grateful for whatever team drafts me, whether it’s the No. 1 pick or the 199th pick.”
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This isn’t Baker Mayfield. Mendoza won’t spend his time keeping receipts. He’s intrinsically motivated. He’s disciplined. And he truly loves football. That love, he explained, stems from the game’s unique strategy — and the way intelligence can play a major role, even when a player isn’t an elite athlete. Like Mendoza, or Tom Brady, who was the 199th pick of the 2000 draft.
All the more reason for Mendoza to prepare thoroughly.
“In the NFL, the margins are so small,” he said. “There’s so many games decided by so few points. And the difference between a losing record and a winning record is a couple of drives, a couple of key plays.”
It’s Mendoza’s detail-oriented mindset that has elevated him into a position that absolutely no one — even one year ago — could have seen coming. He was the 140th-ranked quarterback coming out of high school in 2022.
“It was a true ranking,” Mendoza said at the combine. “I was a raw prospect. I was terrible.”
He went to just about every camp he could to attract attention. And still, he only got two offers — one from Yale (unofficially) and one from Cal. And the Golden Bears showed up at the buzzer only because they whiffed on two or three other quarterbacks.
Over 20 games in two seasons at Cal, Fernando Mendoza threw for 4,712 yards and 30 touchdowns. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
This is the lore of Mendoza. It’s an underdog story. He’s not attention-seeking. He’s not Shedeur Sanders, whose combine press conference last year drew a far bigger crowd than Mendoza’s.
The only crowd that matters to Mendoza is the one in Las Vegas.
Mendoza said he spoke briefly on the phone with Raiders part-owner Tom Brady before the interview. And Mendoza hopes he’ll get to meet Brady in person soon.
“Who hasn’t admired Tom Brady? I mean he has more Super Bowl rings than anybody,” Mendoza said. “To potentially have a mentor like that, it would be pretty impressive and pretty meaningful.”
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During the Raiders’ meeting with Mendoza in Indy, the coaching staff dove into an install, teaching the quarterback a few plays to see how he learned. Vegas then reviewed his film and got to know him. It was nothing out of the ordinary for a prospect-team meeting.
Then during Mendoza’s press conference, the sentiment was all about humility. This draft will likely be all about him, and yet he refuses to make it all about him.
Just listen to how Mendoza spoke about Hoosiers receiver Omar Cooper Jr., a fringe first-round pick.
“He helped make me this year,” Mendoza said. “He’s like prime Deebo Samuel. … He has great body control, great hands. He can really play any position on the field — a receiver that can be a gadget guy, also take it deep and also have great routes.”
The media might be taking Mendoza’s status at the top pick for granted. But he isn’t. After all, he has a LinkedIn page that he regularly updates.
“Right now, I’m unemployed,” he said. “This is the most important job interview of your life. Right now, I’m just doing everything to hopefully get employed on April 23rd.”
That’s the optimistic, down-to-earth approach that drew the folks at Cal and Indiana to Mendoza. That’s the personality that has made him magnetic to those close to him. And it’s one of the many traits that, no doubt, has drawn the Raiders to him.
