The Las Vegas Raiders are about to draft their new franchise quarterback, but scouts have different opinions about him.
The pre-draft hype machine is going into high gear this week, and according to scouts and evaluators, the Las Vegas Raiders are in an especially promising position when it comes to drafting quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic offered up a sampling of NFL draft intel today, and it included plenty of comments about Mendoza, so let’s go there and see who said what, even if we can’t attach a specific name to a quote.
The strongest comment Feldman got came from one scout in a section entitled “The draft is defined by its quarterbacks.”
“After (Fernando) Mendoza, it drops off a cliff,” the scout said, and his opinion was echoed by an NFL personnel director.
“The stuff that people in prior years look back and say (about QBs they missed on): ‘I’m [expletive] that I didn’t notice that he had that.’ Fernando has that,” said the exec. “It’s his efficiency in the red zone; you can tell that the plays that he makes, he has practiced them. Over his whole career, he has gotten better. He has those intangibles that people say are the reasons that people screw up in the draft.”
That may be true, but the hype starts getting laid on pretty thick when Mendoza gets compared to previous first-round quarterbacks, as that same personnel director got a little florid when he compared Mendoza to New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.
“I think he has the answers to the test,” he added. “I loved Cam Ward, but Fernando’s a better prospect than him. There are some physical traits in terms of arm strength and ability to run, where Drake Maye may have a little more, but I feel much better about Fernando than I did about Drake — and I like Drake.
“Fernando shows that he knows how to handle adversity. You see it all over the tape: Bouncing back from getting hit against Miami in the title game. Throwing picks, coming back against Oregon and Penn State.”
Another theme that emerges early and often in any discussion of Mendoza is about his toughness. It does raise questions about Mendoza’s ongoing health given his willingness to take shots, but he’s shown the ability to keep his mechanics clean when he does get a tough pass rush.
“The toughness really stands out,” said another NFL scout. “The dude sits in there and takes some really good shots. He’s got good, not excellent, arm talent. I think he has a chance to be a solid starter. He’s a clean prospect. There are some just questions on the high-end stuff.”
Those questions earned Mendoza the label of “solid NFL starter” from Pro Football Focus, and that aligns with yet another assessment that mentioned his lack of experience under center.
“That’s obviously gonna be a huge difference for him,” said the coach. “A lot of their stuff was pre-snap and box count. RPOs and back-shoulders. Indiana did have a little more of a developed downfield passing game with some of its three-level reads and seven-step progressions than some spread teams in college do. But there’s not a ton of carryover.
“He does have arm talent. His footwork will be more of an adjustment, staying on time and getting the ball out. He drives the ball down the field well. He’s accurate downfield, and he’s fearless in the pocket. That’s why I think he’ll be successful. Even going back to his two years at Cal, where it’s a dirty pocket, he’s got guys in his face, he’s getting messed up at Cal, and still delivering throwing seam balls while he’s getting smoked. He’s comfortable with being pressured.”
Mendoza will probably get plenty of pressure given that the Raiders offensive line is being rebuilt from close to the ground up, but the bottom line here is going to be coaching. The Raiders are betting that the Raiders can at least turn Mendoza into the next Sam Darnold, but that’s a huge gamble that comes with a ton of risk.