{"id":454072,"date":"2026-02-07T07:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T07:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454072\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T07:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T07:36:11","slug":"fernando-mendoza-throwing-at-the-combine-isnt-a-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454072\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza: Throwing at the Combine isn&#8217;t a priority"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fernando Mendoza threw plenty of passes in the state of Indiana during the 2025 season, but it doesn\u2019t sound like the quarterback will be throwing any in Indianapolis during the Scouting Combine. <\/p>\n<p>Mendoza is expected to be the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft after winning the Heisman Trophy and leading Indiana University to a national title, so there\u2019s not much need for him to show off his arm when NFL teams descend on the Combine in a couple of weeks. During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Mendoza suggested that he\u2019ll wait until the Hoosiers hold a Pro Day to flash his throwing ability. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the Combine, you\u2019re <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/47851268\/fernando-mendoza-throwing-pro-day-helping-teammates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">throwing to different receivers<\/a>, it\u2019s a whole different thing,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cAnd I want to make sure I give my guys the best chance. I want to throw at pro day with my guys, with my running backs and be there with the boys. The Combine, I don\u2019t think throwing\u2019s going to be a priority just because it\u2019s such a quick turnaround.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mendoza passed on sharing any thoughts about the possibility of joining the Raiders as the top pick, but had good things to say about the work Klint Kubiak has done with Sam Darnold in Seattle this year. Kubiak is currently the Seahawks\u2019 offensive coordinator and is set to become the Raiders\u2019 head coach after the Super Bowl. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza threw plenty of passes in the state of Indiana during the 2025 season, but it doesn\u2019t&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-454072","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\/454072","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=454072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}