Fernando Mendoza talks about journey to the Raiders
Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza smiles while answering a question during a press conference, Friday April 24, 2026 in Henderson, Nev. It is officially a new era for the Las Vegas Raiders, who selected Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick on Thursday. Arriving in Las Vegas, Mendoza made his first appearance as a member of the Raiders at Intermountain Health Performance Center in Henderson, where he expressed his excitement about joining the Silver and Black.
“I'm officially a Raider. I'm excited to be humble and hungry,” said Mendoza. What was clear from the beginning with Mendoza is how much of a student of the game of football he is.
During his preparation to make the jump to the NFL, Mendoza trained with former NFL quarterback Brian Griese, a fellow Miami native and current quarterbacks coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Mendoza also studied the West Coast offense that new head coach Klint Kubiak is bringing with him to the Seattle Seahawks in order to understand his new role at the professional level. “I’m always trying to do my 1/11th in the offense.
I believe it allows the quarterback to be a great point guard and with such a great scheme that coach Kubiak has. And I just want to do my 1/11th whether it's hand the ball off, throwing, making a check, whatever it may be,” said Mendoza about his play style. While Mendoza was linked to the Raiders ever since the Hoosiers won the national championship over the Miami Hurricanes, Kubiak was still impressed with what he saw from his new quarterback live and in person when they went to Indiana’s Pro Day.
“When we went to the Pro Day and we got to see Fernando [Mendoza] throw live, and the way he ran that Pro Day, he bossed his teammates around, told him what route they were running and how accurately he threw the ball,” said Kubiak. “Obviously, his stature, and then took him upstairs and talked football with him and just listened to him communicate the game and how quickly he picked things up. We already liked how he played the game on film, but seeing him in person was really helpful, and it allowed us to watch film on a lot of other guys.