Fernando Mendoza will not be in Pittsburgh on April 23 when the Las Vegas Raiders select him with the number one overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Tuesday that Mendoza has decided not to attend the draft in person, choosing instead to celebrate the occasion with his family in Miami.
He will be the first quarterback selected number one overall to skip the draft since Trevor Lawrence in 2021, when Lawrence chose to stay home in Georgia rather than attend the socially distanced in-person ceremony.
The 2020 draft was held virtually due to the pandemic, which means Joe Burrow had no ceremony to attend.
Before Lawrence, you have to go back to 2014, when Jadeveon Clowney chose not to attend, to find a number one pick who deliberately passed on the stage.
Mendoza is making a deliberate choice, and the reason he is giving, that he wants to celebrate with his family in Miami, is entirely consistent with everything that is publicly known about who he is.
He is visiting Las Vegas on Tuesday for a meeting with the Raiders.
What Mendoza Has Said About His Draft Preparation
Mendoza has been consistent throughout the pre-draft process about where his head is. He is not focused on being the first pick. He is focused on being ready for Week 1.
“I wouldn’t really say that I have the mentality of trying to be the top pick,” he told SiriusXM following his pro day at Indiana last week. “I’m just trying to be the best me possible. And in that aspect, whatever team picks me, you only need one team to believe in you, whether you’re the first pick, whether you’re the last pick or whatever. And in that, I’m just trying to be the best quarterback I can be in September, rather than right now here in April.”
At his pro day, he acknowledged the adjustments ahead of him at the next level. “I’m putting all of my efforts toward just trying to be the best quarterback possible for the season,” he said. “But I know at the next level, there’s going to be a lot more snaps under center, and that’s a big adjustment. I need to get used to that and just the nature of the game. Not only that, the hash marks are more condensed and the speed of the game is faster. So all those things I look forward to learning.”
It is not an accident that every evaluation of him uses the word “mature” before any discussion of arm talent.
Who Is Fernando Mendoza?
Fernando Gabriel Mendoza V was born October 1, 2003, in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Miami, Florida.
His paternal line comes from the municipality of Campanario in the Badajoz region of Spain. He is 22 years old and 6-foot-5, 225 pounds.
He began his college football career at Cal as a three-star recruit in the 2022 class. He was good enough in Berkeley to draw attention as an NFL prospect but not yet great.
He finished his business degree at Cal in three years, which tells you something about how he approaches preparation, and then entered the transfer portal before the 2025 season, choosing Indiana and head coach Curt Cignetti.
What followed is one of the most remarkable single seasons in college football history.
Mendoza completed 72 percent of his passes for 3,535 yards and 41 touchdowns against just six interceptions, posted a 90.3 QBR that ranked first in the nation, and added 444 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.
He led Indiana to a perfect 16-0 record and the program’s first national championship in football, defeating Miami 27-21 in the College Football Playoff National Championship game in January 2026.
The game-winning moment has already become part of college football mythology.
Indiana, trailing with the game on the line, faced fourth-and-5 near the Miami goal line with 9:18 remaining.
Mendoza took a QB draw, bulldozed through the Miami defense for a 12-yard touchdown, and put Indiana up 10 points.
He said afterward that he had been anticipating a Tampa 2 coverage from Miami and was pleasantly surprised by what he saw.
Mendoza received the Offensive Player of the Game award. Indiana won its first national title.
He won the Heisman Trophy, the first Indiana player ever to do so, along with the Walter Camp Award, the Maxwell Award, the Davey O’Brien Award, and AP College Football Player of the Year.
He won the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, Big Ten Quarterback of the Year, and was first-team All-Big Ten.
He beat out Julian Sayin, Diego Pavia, and Jeremiyah Love for the Heisman, and delivered portions of his acceptance speech in Spanish to honor his family.
He will be the third quarterback in history to win the national championship and the Heisman in the same season before being taken first overall in the NFL Draft, joining Cam Newton and Joe Burrow.
What Do The Raiders Have To Work With?
Las Vegas went 3-14 in 2025. Pete Carroll was hired as head coach before the season, brought in Geno Smith from Seattle hoping to replicate what Smith had done with the Seahawks, and watched it fall apart.
Smith threw 17 interceptions in 15 games, two more than any other quarterback in the league threw all season.
Carroll was fired after the season. The Raiders have the number one pick and an urgent need for a franchise quarterback.
This offseason they have been building around Mendoza before drafting him, which is the level of certainty surrounding his selection. Running back Ashton Jeanty, tight end Brock Bowers, and a rebuilt offensive line that includes free agent center Tyler Linderbaum are in place.
Veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins was signed last week as a bridge option and mentor. Tom Brady, the team’s part-owner, has spoken publicly about Mendoza in positive terms.
There is no realistic scenario in which the Raiders do not take Mendoza with the number one pick. The meeting Tuesday in Las Vegas is formality made official.
The Person Behind The Prospect
Two things about Mendoza that every scouting report mentions eventually but most people do not know are his mother’s illness and what he has done about it.
Elsa Mendoza is a former University of Miami tennis player who has lived with multiple sclerosis for nearly two decades.
Mendoza has been an advocate for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society throughout his college career in a specific and practical way. At both Cal and Indiana, he partnered with local restaurants to create menu items named after himself, with all proceeds going to MS research.
The Mendoza Burrito at La Burrita near the Cal campus. Sandwiches at BuffaLouie’s and Gable’s Bagels in Bloomington. “My mom means the world to me, she’s the most caring and positive person I know, and I’ll keep doing everything I can to support her and others living with MS,” he wrote.
His younger brother Alberto, who served as backup quarterback at Indiana and has since transferred to Georgia Tech, has been his partner in those efforts.
On the morning of his Heisman ceremony in New York, Mendoza organized an Adidas-sponsored charity shopping spree for four families affected by MS.
One of the mothers at the event, living with MS herself, told a bystander she had been feeling very lonely. Mendoza spent time with her.
He is outspoken about his Catholic faith, attends daily Mass as part of his game-day routine, and organizes team Bible studies at Indiana.
He says his Spanish is conversational rather than fluent, which did not stop him from delivering part of his Heisman speech in Spanish in front of a national television audience.
ESPN’s scouting report compares his passing style to Jared Goff, poised, accurate, delivers catchable balls on time, excels on layered second-level routes, NFL-level field vision.
The knock is that he struggled off his original launch point, completing just 53.2 percent of passes when forced to move in 2025. It is a real limitation at the next level and one he will need to address.
The Raiders pick him April 23. He will be in Miami with his family. He will learn from Cousins. He will practice snapping under center. And in September, he will play his first NFL game.
