Fernando Mendoza is facing tough challenges with the Las Vegas Raiders, and Tom Brady is giving him some advice.
Las Vegas Raiders minority owner Tom Brady, has never been a top pick in the NFL draft, but he helped make new quarterback Fernando Mendoza just that in this year’s draft. Brady used a maniacal work ethic to become elite after being famously selected as a sixth-round pick.
Brady talked about all this in a recent episode of the “Stick To Football” podcast, and Sam Warren of The Athletic wrote about his comments and approach in a recent piece. Brady’s reference point was none other than Peyton Manning, who came out of Tennessee with the same level of high expectations that Mendoza is facing now.
The thing Brady admired most about Manning, he said, as that his rival “always outperformed his expectation.”
“It was tremendous talent that he had, to be able to do that,” Brady said. “And he was very much like me: process-oriented, tough, disciplined, driven, accountable, and I’d say that path is harder than the path I took.
“My path was challenging in different ways. Peyton, if he failed, everyone saw it right away. And he had to take that on, and he superseded all those expectations because of his will and determination. And I love that about him.”
Mendoza is starting to understand how all this works. He sold the Raiders on his makeup and talent to get selected first in the draft, but now he’s in a very different position as a potential leader.
“What he said as a quarterback is you need to be the most everything,” Mendoza said. “You need to be the most competitive. You have to have the most leadership. You need to be the toughest, mentally and physically. You’ve got to embody all these things and lead by example before getting the respect from your teammates, in order to lead effectively. That really resonated with me.”
Brady’s other comments referenced Mendoza’s new position in the NFL pecking order. Once a quarterback like Mendoza starts his process with a team like the Raiders, his draft status becomes irrelevant.
“Now you’re just a member of the team,” Brady said. “Now you have to develop him. And I think most people, and probably a lot of fans, they think just because you get a player on the team, well, now he’s going to be great. No, there’s a lot of development that still needs to happen.”
Part of that development involves being a target. Brady added taht Mendoza’s status as top pick will make him a target for players who are where he once was, i.e., late-round or undrafted players looking to outshine their star. Whether Mendoza can do that or not remains to be seen, but he does have the advantage of getting advice on all this from the GOAT.
