There are tentative signs that the Las Vegas Raiders might be going cold on Fernando Mendoza as their quarterback of the future.
The Raiders hold the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft at the end of April and Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Mendoza, who led his team to college football championship glory last season, is the overwhelming favorite to be taken first.
But a report on ESPN from this week’s NFL Combine says that the Raiders have told people that they do not want to start Week 1 of the 2026 campaign with a rookie quarterback.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t want Mendoza, but it might leave the door open for teams to try and tempt them into trading the first pick. And it seems that the New York Jets will try their luck.
Jets ESPN reporter Rich Cimini also said Sunday that he thinks the organization will gauge whether the Raiders are interested in trading their top pick but the feeling at present is that they will likely hold onto it.
Jets GM Darren Mougey dropped a clear hint on Sunday that if the top pick is available, the team are interested.
Fernando Mendoza is widely expected to be the No. 1 pick at this year’s NFL Draft
But there might be signs the Las Vegas Raiders, with Tom Brady helping their rebuild, do not want to use their first pick
‘Absolutely, we’ll talk about all those things, but I don’t think that’s happening,’ Mougey said of a possible trade, according to ESPN.
Both the Raiders and the Jets need a quarterback and Vegas minority owner Tom Brady, who is playing a key role in the team’s offseason rebuild, has said before that he is a fan of Mendoza.
Geno Smith was the Vegas quarterback in a disastrous 2025 season where the team ended 3-14 in the AFC West, a record that cost head coach Pete Carroll his job.
Smith has a year to go on his Raiders contract but he wasn’t popular with the team’s fanbase last season – he even flipped the bird at Raiders fans who jeered him leaving the field after one defeat.
But it could be that their new head coach Klint Kubiak – the highly-rated offensive coordinator for last season’s Super Bowl winners, Seattle Seahawks – might hold onto him and give Mendoza, or another drafted quarterback, time to grow before playing in the NFL.
Indeed, if the No. 1 pick could be traded then other organizations besides the Jets could come to the negotiating table with Las Vegas.
The Jets hold the second and 16th pick in the first round of this year’s Draft, which is held on April 24.
Much like the Raiders, they desperately need to draft well. What they’ll do at quarterback remains unclear if they don’t trade up – there are some intriguing free agent prospects outside of the draft.
