{"id":664487,"date":"2026-05-25T17:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/664487\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T17:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:56:08","slug":"fernando-mendoza-wasnt-happy-to-leave-work-for-nflpa-rookie-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/664487\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza wasn’t happy to leave work for NFLPA Rookie Premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza skipped Indiana\u2019s visit<\/a> to the White House so that he could focus on his current job. He didn\u2019t skip last weekend\u2019s NFLPA Rookie Premiere.<\/p>\n

It sounds like he wanted to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be completely honest with you<\/a>,\u201d Mendoza told Gilbert Manzano of SI.com (via Chris Franklin of NJ.com). \u201cI\u2019d rather be practicing right now and I was really upset about actually having to miss practice<\/a> for this. Although it\u2019s great. . . . It\u2019s still been a great moment to where it was mandatory I be here. I\u2019m not going to feel sorry for myself and feel wishy-washy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so Mendoza did what he always seems to do \u2014 he fully embraced the situation he was in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to have a smile on my face and make the most of that present moment,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cLive and learn all the [NFLPA] benefits, make all the connections with different mentors here, let me make sure I can maximize my time to be able to create a positive impact and learn about my situation and surroundings. So those are all things that I really benefited from being here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendoza apparently didn\u2019t miss any of the team\u2019s formal OTA sessions for the NFLPA event, which ran from Friday, May 14, through Sunday, May 17. The first OTA happened on Monday, May 18.<\/p>\n

The NFLPA Rookie Premiere isn\u2019t technically mandatory for the players. But the teams are required under the CBA to allow them to attend. Per Article 21, Section 7: \u201cInvited Rookies will be permitted by their respective Clubs to attend the NFL Players Rookie Premiere provided that: (i) such event is scheduled during the month of May; (ii) such event encompasses a maximum of four consecutive days, including both a Saturday and a Sunday; and (iii) the NFLPA provides the NFL with the dates for the next Rookie Premiere not later than February 1 of each year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raiders fans should be happy that Mendoza is all in. Although there\u2019s no guarantee that he\u2019ll become the team\u2019s much-needed, year-to-year franchise quarterback, he\u2019s committed to doing everything in his power to get there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza skipped Indiana\u2019s visit to the White House so that he could focus on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-664487","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\/664487","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=664487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}