Scott Gulbransen
Rob Parker thinks Fernando Mendoza is going to be a bust.
The kid hasn’t taken a snap. Hasn’t run a single training camp rep. Hasn’t thrown a pass that mattered since the national title game. And we’re supposed to file the verdict in May.
What’s his evidence? The NFL skipped the Raiders on the primetime slate. That’s the whole argument. Apparently, the people who plug games into time slots at the league office have better intel on Mendoza than John Spytek does. These are the same brilliant minds who stick Jacksonville on Thursday night every year and tell us it’s appointment viewing.
Fox Sports’ Rob Parker’s “Hot Take” is Simply Ignorant
I pulled up the clip a second time because I wanted to make sure I had him right. I did. Fox Sports Radio. Thursday. Mendoza’s a bust, don’t bother watching, Brady ruined the franchise. Cooked it all in May.
Let me say the obvious part first. The Raiders won three games last year. Three. Every time the league did give them a primetime window in 2025, they were unwatchable. Why on earth would Park Avenue hand them another Sunday night off a rookie quarterback’s college tape? They wouldn’t. They didn’t. Lincoln Kennedy made the same point on the Raiders Squad Show, and Kennedy played here, which means his read on this matters about a hundred times more than Parker’s does to me. You earn primetime. This roster hasn’t earned the dishwater off Andy Reid’s plate.
That’s not on Mendoza. That’s the situation he walked into.
The piece that actually gets under my skin is the evaluation. Or the missing one.
41 touchdowns. 3,535 yards. Heisman trophy. Natty. At Indiana. I said Indiana. Spytek wouldn’t even take trade calls on the pick. Not “took them and passed.” Did not pick up the phone. I’ve covered enough drafts to tell you when a GM is doing due diligence and when he’s already decided. This was decided.
Fernando Mendoza Criticism from “Anonymous Sources”
Now, the anonymous ACC coach who told ESPN that Mendoza doesn’t have NFL traits. Sure, whatever. Anonymous coaches have been getting quarterbacks wrong since I was sneaking beers in college. They missed on Brees. Missed on Brady. Missed Mahomes by a country mile. The track record on unnamed scouts dunking on top picks is, to put it kindly, bad. And now we’re supposed to treat one of these guys as scripture because the quote fits a take Parker already had cooking in the chamber? Nah. I’m good.
Kirk Morrison’s been around the league a long time. Morrison said Mendoza’s the hardest worker he’s seen out of college in years. Morrison’s name is on that. The other guy wasn’t on his. Pick one to ride with.
Parker’s Tom Brady as Raiders Owner Take Also Laughable
Then we get to the Brady stuff and that’s really where Parker tips his hand for me.
Brady ruined the Raiders. That’s his line. The Raiders. Hue Jackson. Dennis Allen. Del Rio. Gruden Part Two. McDaniels firing himself off the side of the road. Antonio Pierce. Pete Carroll for a year. The franchise that nuked itself every 20 months for 15 years straight. That’s what Brady allegedly ruined.
Get out of here with that.
I’ll level with you. I’m not the guy who’s going to die defending Brady’s minority stake. The questions about how hands-on a part-owner ought to be are real, and folks I trust on this beat are asking them every week. We can do that column another day. But the version of history where Brady torched a thriving operation? You’d have to forget the last decade and a half of Raiders football even existed.
Brady was in the room for Spytek. In the room for Kubiak. In the room when the front office finally picked the quarterback they wanted instead of the one that fell to them. That’s not ruining anything. That’s somebody finally aiming the gun in a direction that makes sense.
Raiders Hot Takes are Simply for Clicks and Attention
And here’s the thing about what Parker is doing. He’s not analyzing the team. He’s making clips. He knows the word Raiders prints engagement. He hit the button. The button worked. I’m at my desk writing about him at 9 PM on a Sunday, so fine, he won the day.
Doesn’t mean he’s right.
The honest read on the 2026 Raiders is more boring than a viral clip can handle. The rebuild has a spine for the first time in forever. Spytek’s done more in four months than the last three regimes did in four years. Kubiak’s scheme should fit the bodies on the roster. The quarterback might be good, might be great, might need a year on the bench and a clipboard. I lean optimistic, but I’m not booking flights to Los Angeles. Cousins is still Cousins. The o-line is still a project. The receiver room is still a question mark. All of that is true at the same time.
But you don’t drop the word bust on a No. 1 pick in May because a TV schedule didn’t break the way you wanted it to.
The kid hasn’t played a snap.
Watch a few. Then come find me.
