The Las Vegas Raiders made quarterback Fernando Mendoza the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. He is expected to be the face of the franchise and the player who brings the Raiders back to relevance. However, he has a lot of work to do before he is ready to take the field for his rookie season.
One of the mandatory events for many of the rookies is the rookie premiere. At this event, the rookies all come together to learn about the business side of football. While at the event, Mendoza sat down for a one-on-one interview and discussed an interesting conversation he had with Tom Brady.
Mendoza Learning From One of the Greats
According to Sports Illustrated, Mendoza sat down with Brady and rapper Travis Scott at a brunch, where he said the experience was valuable to him and that he could apply what he learned to his career. Mendoza said, “It was all over the place, but the one consistent variable was that it was quality information and it was information that I wrote down on a notepad. I’ll be able to digest it when I read it back tonight and for the future.”
Mendoza also mentioned what Brady told him about leadership. He said, “But the one biggest thing that I thought was awesome was when Tom talked about leadership and the two variables that you need to be a great leader. One, care about your teammates, and second, care about the team’s goals.”
Brady is a limited partner and minority owner of the Raiders, so he has a personal interest in seeing Mendoza and the Raiders play well. While Brady does not play much of a role in player acquisition, he is more used as a sounding board for Raiders players and their coaching staff. No player has a better combination of experience and success than Brady, so seeing him work with the Raiders should only benefit them.
Will Mendoza Be the Week 1 Starter?
Even though Mendoza was the first overall pick, there is no guarantee he will be the Week 1 starter in Las Vegas. The Raiders signed Kirk Cousins this offseason, and he has a shot to win the starting job over Mendoza.
Cousins is a nice bridge option for the Raiders if they want to give Mendoza more time to develop. However, the Raiders did not draft Mendoza for him to be on the bench all season, and his time to start will come at some point in 2026.
On a recent episode of PFN’s Football Debate Club, analysts Ian Cummings and T.J. Randall talked about Mendoza and his excellent fit with the Raiders.
“He has a head coach with an established offensive identity,” Randall said. “He essentially resurrected [Sam] Darnold in that Seahawks offense. He kept the Saints offense afloat the year before in 2024 when they lost Derek Carr and a slew of offensive contributors to injury. They’ve shown a commitment to bolstering the personnel around the quarterback and continuing to bolster the coaching staff.”
Randall believes that Mendoza has the best support system and apprenticeship of the 2026 rookie QBs, so “it’s fair to assume that they’re going to have the best career” as well.
“Now of course, there are a lot more contributing factors than that. With all that being said, I still have to go with Mendoza because of that apprenticeship and how I feel about it,” he added. “Even as a player, from an eval standpoint, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s durable, he’s a smooth processor, sufficient athlete, all of these things. No throws are off limits. And I just think that combination of who he is as a player is going to really pair well with Kubiak.”
Las Vegas is not going to compete for a Super Bowl next season, but it can develop Mendoza and put itself in a position to be competitive from 2027 and beyond.
