![\"Fernando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fernando-mendoza-indiana-hoosiers_eb2720.jpg\")
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(Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> look to be zeroing in on the head coach as Seattle Seahawks<\/a> offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Nonetheless, nothing is official there and even when the Raiders announce their next head coach, their attention then turns to the NFL<\/a> Draft.<\/p>\n With the No. 1 overall pick, the Silver and Black have the opportunity to find their franchise QB as Fernando Mendoza is projected to go first. Mendoza had a passer rating of 182.9 with 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns, and six interceptions in 16 games this season, per StatMuse<\/a>. <\/p>\n Moreover, he went on to win the Heisman Trophy and lead the Indiana Hoosiers<\/a> to the national title. Now, he\u2019s set to go first overall, and Archie\u00a0Manning shared his thoughts on Mendoza at the NFL level. <\/p>\n \u201cGetting to know Fernando, recognizing his work ethic, recognizing his desire and what he wants to do, I think he\u2019ll make a great transition to the next level,\u201d Manning said (h\/t Zach Osterman of the IndyStar<\/a>). \u201c\u2026 Y\u2019all can see why we\u2019re so excited about recognizing him.\u201d<\/p>\n Fernando Mendoza Can Turn Raiders Around<\/p>\n The Raiders need\u00a0a franchise QB, and they are in a prime position to select one in Mendoza. Moreover, if they need more convincing, along with what Manning said, former\u00a0NFL\u00a0signal-caller Jordan Palmer shared insight into Mendoza, with whom he has been in contact since the player was making the move to Cal.<\/p>\n \u201cI know him very well and really came on my radar on his way to Cal,\u201d Palmer said on\u00a0the Jan. 26 edition of \u201cThe Jim Rome Show.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u201cSomebody tipped me off that this kid\u2019s going to be really good\u2026 Look, the skill set, it doesn\u2019t take you too long to go, \u2018Alright, cool, NFL guy.\u2018\u00a0The skill set is what it is. He\u2019s mobile, he makes every throw, he likes to throw on time.\u201d<\/p>\n Furthermore, Palmer believes that Mendoza is the right guy to head into Las Vegas and turn their fortunes around after a 3-14 2025 season. <\/p>\n \u201cI think uniquely about this is you got the Raiders, which whatever you want to say about the ownership and the decisions they make, then you add in Tom Brady<\/a>, then you\u2019re going to have a new coach,\u201c\u00a0Palmer added.<\/p>\n \u201cPlus, it\u2019s Vegas and all the temptations and stuff that come with that. Plus, Raider Nation, which is a much bigger fan base than Indiana Hoosiers. I think he\u2019s the perfect guy to come in here and play well and weather the storm.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom Brady Under Pressure With Fernando Mendoza<\/p>\n With Tom Brady holding a minority ownership stake, mishandling Mendoza\u2019s development would reflect poorly on a quarterback widely viewed as the greatest\u00a0to ever play. Because of that, Yahoo! Sports\u2019 Jason Fitz sees added pressure on Brady to help make sure Mendoza grows into Las Vegas\u2019 long-term answer at the position.<\/p>\n \u201cTom Brady himself needs to make sure that the infrastructure is taking care of his quarterback, \u201c\u00a0Fitz said on\u00a0the Jan. 23 edition of \u201cYahoo Sports Daily.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u201cTom Brady needs to make sure the person that knows what it takes for a quarterback to\u00a0be surrounded\u00a0with the right things needs to damn well make sure that the team he calls himself an owner of has that very infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Raiders don\u2019t get it right with Fernando Mendoza, if they ruin Fernando Mendoza, not the other way around. If the Raiders ruin Fernando Mendoza, I\u2019m looking squarely at you, Tom Brady.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEduardo Razo<\/a> 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<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Raiders\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images) The Las Vegas Raiders look to be zeroing in on the head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-441885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}