The 2026 NFL Draft Combine is underway, and the talk around Indianapolis is that the Las Vegas Raiders are planning to select Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in April. The Raiders’ NFL Draft plans are not set in stone, though, and there may be a better option than taking the best quarterback in the 2026 class.
When a team’s bad play earns it the top pick in the NFL Draft, everyone in the front office, especially the general manager, takes on a heightened level of diligence. The wrong pick can get a person fired, while the right pick can be the start of a dynasty. The Raiders don’t have to look outside their division to see that. In the 2017 draft, the Kansas City Chiefs took Patrick Mahomes out of Texas Tech, after quarterback-hungry teams ahead of them opted for Mitchell Trubisky and Deshaun Watson.
The Case For Now
The newest member of the Raiders team ownership is not used to losing in the NFL. Tom Brady is going to try to right the ship in Las Vegas as soon as possible. The fastest way to turn any franchise around is to draft its quarterback of the future. Brady saw his former team go from 13 losses in 2024 to 14 wins in 2025 and make it to the Super Bowl. The catalyst to New England’s success was MVP candidate Drake Maye.
The best quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft is Mendoza. The Heisman winner and National Champion completed 72% of his passes last season for 3,535 yards (220.9 yards per game), with 41 touchdowns to just six interceptions. He improved every year of his college career and had the best season in college football last year. He has prototypical size (6’5 and 225 pounds), great pocket presence, and showed a great deal of mobility in 2025 (276 yards rushing and seven touchdowns).
Having Mendoza call plays for the Raiders’ foreseeable future, and having the luxury of handing the ball to last season’s sixth overall pick, Ashton Jeanty, could be a recipe for long-term success. It would certainly shore up an offense that had the worst scoring offense in the league last season (14.2 points per game). They also had the fewest yards in the league (4,168), and a star quarterback has the potential to change that.
The Case For Later
The Raiders’ offense was abysmal last year, but a good young quarterback is unlikely to fix that. Quarterbacks need the strength of a good running game, good receivers, and/or a good offensive line to have success. Las Vegas allowed the most sacks in the NFL last season (64), and Jeanty averaged a meager 3.7 yards per carry. A new quarterback would be thrown to hungry wolves, not unlike the Houston Texans did to first overall pick David Carr in 2002.
Even if the Raiders felt that they could shore up the line, giving Jeanty better success, and subsequently their quarterback, Mendoza may not be worthy of carrying the franchise going forward. He is the best quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft, but this is a class that could see Ty Simpson go in the first round. To call the depth of the class at quarterback shallow would be an understatement. Next year’s class, on the other hand, looks fantastic.
Dante Moore chose to return to Oregon and will vie for the top quarterback selected in 2027, along with Arch Manning (Texas), Julian Sayin (Ohio State), and Heisman runner-up, Trinidad Chambliss. It may make more sense to take their quarterback next year and spend this draft and free agency cycle to get the team ready for their next signal-caller. The fact that this year is light on quarterback talent bodes well for the gteam securing a treasure trove of picks in exchange for the top pick.
In 2016, the Tennessee Titans sent the top pick in the draft to the Los Angeles Rams (who selected Jared Goff) in exchange for two first-round picks, two seconds, and two thirds. Depending on how a team values Mendoza, the Raiders could find themselves sitting pretty over the next two drafts by choosing to wait on a quarterback.
Raiders NFL Draft Decision
A good franchise will always consider every possible option before coming to a decision. Are the Raiders a good franchise, though? They haven’t been recently, and maybe that will change with the addition of Brady. In the next few months they have a big decision to make, and Fernando Mendoza is at the center of it.
