The Las Vegas Raiders will be watching closely how Indiana Hoosiers QB Fernando Mendoza performs. Las Vegas have the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and all signs point to them selecting Mendoza.
Mendoza and the Hoosiers will face the Miami Hurricanes in the national title game on Jan. 19. It will also be the final live game the Raiders can see of the Indiana star, who has yet to declare for the draft, before the draft process begins.
Ahead of the national title game against Miami, ESPN’s Chris Fowler noted that Mendoza, at the collegiate level, has the passing accuracy of former Stanford Cardinal QB Andrew Luck. The signal-caller would eventually go No. 1 overall to the Indianapolis Colts and have a productive NFL career.
“I mean, Andrew Luck was pretty damn accurate,” Fowler said on the Jan. 16 edition of the “Dan Le Batard Show with Stugot.” “He’s one of the most accurate guys that I saw, and his cerebral sense of what to do pre-snap, Mendoza’s lines up with that… Mendoza [has] burst on the scene as a guy [who] didn’t beat a ranked team at Cal. No disgrace. He didn’t have great teammates around him.
“So his rise has been meteoric in one season. That’s why I think there’s still people who are waiting for him to come crashing down to Earth. And they thought it was going to be at Oregon or the last drive against Penn State, Ohio State or Alabama. He’s just passed every test with an A.”
The question will be whether Mendoza can carry those traits to the NFL as Luck did during his time with the Colts.
Fernando Mendoza Side Steps NFL Draft Question
Nonetheless, while speaking to the media on Jan. 17, Mendoza was asked about the possibility of being the No. 1 pick and playing in Las Vegas.
“I would say, honestly, that’s a fantastic question,“ Mendoza said about potentially playing in Las Vegas (h/t Mick Akers of Las Vegas Review Journal). “I would love to answer that. However, I don’t think we’d like my teammates to have folks in the future. I’m really giving all my focus on the present right now.”
Raiders Get Promising Analysis Over Fernando Mendoza
Amid Mendoza’s run to the national title game, ESPN’s Josh Pate believes that he’s seeing the quarterback take his game to another level even after winning the Heisman Trophy.
“The ball’s like a cannon coming out of his hand,“ Pate told Cowherd about Mendoza during an appearance on “The Colin Cowherd Podcast“ published on Jan. 14. “He’s making a lot of far hash-out throws, the typical NFL throws that you want to see—made a number of them. And that particular game, I was partly on the field, partly up in the press box, so you’re getting every vantage point.
“You watched him throughout the playoff, how many times do you see a quarterback justifiably win the Heisman Trophy and then play better post-winning the Heisman? He’s played his best football in the playoff. I don’t care if this dude goes to Las Vegas; he’ll order Uber Eats six nights out of the week. There’s not an ounce of character concerns. So everything that you would want physically is there.”
Fernando Mendoza Draws Andrew Luck Take Amid Raiders Link