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The 2026 NFL Draft is a few weeks away, and all eyes are on the Las Vegas Raiders with the No. 1 overall pick and whether they’ll take former Indiana Hoosiers QB, Fernando Mendoza.
Over the offseason, the Raiders have done their best to bolster the offensive line with the arrival of Tyler Linderbaum and to upgrade their wide receiver group with the signing of Jalen Nailor.
If the Silver and Black do decide to select Mendoza, Nailor would be one of the targets that the rookie signal caller will be throwing the ball to. Ahead of the draft, Nailor shared his thoughts on Mendoza as many expect the 22-year-old to be the Raiders’ next franchise QB.
“[Mendoza is] a football guy,” Nailor told Kay Adams on the March 19 edition of “Up & Adams.” “He’s a football player. He wants to win. The touch he has on his passes, those accurate passes that he makes, really pops out.
“He’s a mobile quarterback; he can get on the ground and run a little bit. Just to have those aspects of him as a quarterback, he’s tall as well, so seeing over the line won’t be an issue. He has all the things you want in a quarterback.”
Mendoza had a passer rating of 182.9 with 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns, and six interceptions in 16 games in 2025, per StatMuse, leading to a Heisman Trophy and national title for the Hoosiers. It will be interesting to see if this production can translate over to the NFL.
Jalen Nailor Explains Reason to Sign With Raiders
Nailor is back in a city he’s very familiar with and could be catching passes from Mendoza next season. In an interview with Paul Gutierrez, Nailor, who played high school football at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas, explained his decision to leave the Vikings for the Raiders this offseason.
“Just the job that [Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak] has done throughout his whole career, and the guys that he has on his staff, it’s a very renowned coaching staff, and they have a lot of wisdom and experience behind them,“ Nailor said in a March 13 video posted on the Raiders’ YouTube channel. “That played a major role, and I just love what Kubiak does with his offense.”
Rich Gannon Doesn’t Hold Back on Fernando Mendoza
With the draft drawing closer, former Raiders QB Rich Gannon shared his thoughts on the franchise selecting Mendoza and the traits he values in the player that will help him be the franchise signal caller in Las Vegas.
“[Mendoza] came on my radio show at the Super Bowl, and there’s one thing that you get an impression of a player and a person,“ Gannon told Raiders host Amber Theoharis in a March 16 video from the team’s YouTube channel. “He’s got presence about him. That’s pretty impressive.
“He’s very thoughtful [and] very mature; he doesn’t give you canned answers. He’s got a ton of energy and passion; he loves football [and] wants to learn. I think he’s got a lot of the qualities and intangibles that you really love with that position.”
Eduardo Razo Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo
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