The Las Vegas Raiders have named quarterback Fernando Mendoza of Boston, Massachusetts their first overall pick in the 2026 National Football League Draft. It was a sensational season for Mendoza as he won the Heisman Trophy with the University of Indiana.
Mendoza was in his first season with the Hoosiers after quarterbacking the University of California Golden Bears the previous two seasons. In 16 games with the Hoosiers, Mendoza completed 273 passes in 379 attempts with 3535 passing yards, 41 touchdown passes and six interceptions. Mendoza also had 90 rushes for 276 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns. He led College Football this past season with 41 touchdown passes and a quarterback rating of 182.9.
Also this past year in College Football, Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to a national championship. In the national championship game, Indiana beat Miami 27-21. Mendoza completed 16 of 37 passes for 186 passing yards and had a 12 yard rushing touchdown. The Hoosiers had a perfect season as they did not lose a game. In addition to winning the Heisman Trophy, Mendoza was the Associated Press Player of the Year, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, and won the Davey O’Brien Award (best college football quarterback), the Manning Award (best college quarterback in regular season and playoffs as judged by the Sugar Bowl Committee), the Maxwell Award, and Walter Camp Award.
In Vegas, Mendoza will be working under new Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak, who was previously the offensive coordinator of the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.It will now be interesting to see who will be the Raiders starting quarterback. The two quarterbacks in the mix are Mendoza and Kirk Cousins.
