Scott Gulbransen
It took 19 years. Nineteen years since the Las Vegas Raiders last drafted a quarterback in the first round and the guy they picked back then — JaMarcus Russell — became one of the most cautionary tales in NFL history. Thursday night in Pittsburgh, the Raiders called a completely different kind of name. One that, if everything breaks right, could define this franchise for the next decade and beyond.
Fernando Mendoza. No. 1 overall. A Raider.
Say it again. It sounds good.
Mendoza is a Game Changer on the Field and Off
In one season with Indiana, Mendoza became the first Heisman Trophy winner in program history while leading the Hoosiers to their first Big Ten title, first Rose Bowl victory, and first national championship — all on a perfect season. He threw 41 touchdown passes, completed 72 percent of his attempts, and posted an otherworldly 8:0 touchdown-to-interception ratio in the College Football Playoff. Fernando Mendoza didn’t just have a good year. He had one of the best single-season performances at the position in college football history.
And yet, the story goes even deeper than the numbers.
Mendoza stayed home tonight, in Miami, with his family, instead of flying to Pittsburgh for the draft. One reason: his mother, Elsa, suffers from multiple sclerosis and has difficulty traveling. The NFL pushed back. He didn’t budge. On the biggest night of his professional life, he chose his mom’s comfort over the spectacle. That tells you a lot about who this kid is.
He’s a self-embraced nerd, a conscientious thinker, a joyous competitor and an articulate business graduate who leads by example on and off the field. The Raiders don’t just have a quarterback. They have a franchise cornerstone.
Agent Leigh Steinberg put it plainly: “He’s a perfect pick for the Raiders because he’s someone they can build a franchise around. He seems to have the proper leadership skills and motivational ability to lead a team. He’s high character, he’s got physical size. He’s got great arm strength.”
That’s not draft hype. That’s a guy who has watched quarterbacks come and go for 50 years telling you this one is different.
The Raiders have been waiting for different for a long time.
A franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2002 now has a guy they hope will finally change that. That’s a 23-year drought of meaningful January football. Raider Nation has been starved of reasons to believe. This is a reason. A real one.
Raiders Snag Another Heisman Winner
Mendoza becomes the fifth Heisman Trophy winner drafted by the Raiders, joining Marcus Allen, Bo Jackson, Tim Brown and Charles Woodson — four names that are woven into the silver and black forever. The company is elite. The expectations should be too.
Yes, none of this happens on draft night. The rebuild under GM John Spytek and head coach Klint Kubiak is real work, and it has to translate to wins. The expectation is that veteran Kirk Cousins will be QB1 until Mendoza is ready and that’s fine. There’s no reason to rush a 22-year-old into a starting role before he’s ready. Let him learn. Let him grow. Patrick Mahomes sat out his entire rookie year. That worked out.
But make no mistake, the energy around this organization just changed tonight. There’s a pulse now. A legitimate reason to tune in, show up, and care again.
Mendoza told ESPN: “The last five months have been such a blessing. I’m just looking forward to getting to work and prove myself at the next level. College was fantastic. I’m blessed to have this career. But now I step into a great game in the NFL. I look forward to earning it every single day.”
Earning it every single day. In a franchise that has watched too many guys show up assuming it would be handed to them, that sentence alone is a breath of fresh air.
Add in the Tom Brady mentorship angle and it’s even more intriguing. Mendoza himself said on the Rich Eisen Show that having Brady push him to be the best quarterback he can be “would mean the world,” and the ingredients for something real are all there. A motivated young quarterback. A respected football mind in his corner. A front office that is finally making calculated, disciplined decisions instead of swinging wildly.
This is the best thing to happen to the Raiders organization in a generation. Not because Mendoza is guaranteed to be great, as nothing is guaranteed in the NFL. But because for the first time in a very long time, the Raiders made the right pick, the right way, with the right person.
Raider Nation, meet your quarterback.
