When the Las Vegas Raiders brought Geno Smith to town to serve as their new starting quarterback under then-new head coach Pete Carroll, the response was a general eye roll. Smith was on the verge of turning 35 years old with his best years behind him, and no one was fooled into believing he would be the answer to the Raiders' basement-dwelling woes.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, on the other hand, deserves some attention.
The Raiders hold the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and Mendoza is squarely in the team's sights. Team owner Mark Davis and every key decision-maker were in attendance at Hard Rock Stadium for the CFP National Championship on Monday night to watch Mendoza in action, and he delivered with a gutsy performance against a loaded Miami Hurricanes defense to deliver the title for the Hoosiers.
Mendoza looked the part of a future franchise quarterback this season, which has to be a thrilling prospect for the Raiders to be able to land him, especially knowing the rest of the QBs in the 2026 class are rather uninspiring.
No one will mistake the Raiders for contenders anytime soon. A new franchise quarterback needs time to make an impact, especially with a depleted roster around him. Just look at Drake Maye in New England or Cam Ward in Tennessee. That said, Mendoza's arrival in the AFC West could alter projections in the very near future—or at least make the sledding that much tougher in what is already a powerhouse division.
The Las Vegas Raiders look like they might have gotten this franchise quarterback thing correct for the first time in a while.
Consider that Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs were a third-place team hoping to rebound back to Super Bowl contender next season. Mahomes is the best in the business, but even he was looking up at an impressive display from Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos in his sophomore season in 2025. And let's not forget Justin Herbert and the L.A. Chargers, who are always going to be considered a playoff team as long as he's under center.
When surveying the rest of the NFL, there's not a single division that can boast the level of quarterback play that one can safely assume of Mahomes, Herbert, Nix, and Mendoza. Some divisions are strong, to be sure, but there's usually one team that ruins the strength of the whole. Perhaps the NFC East could be in contention, depending on how one feels about Jaxson Dart of the New York Giants.
Suffice it to say, Fernando Mendoza is going to change the trajectory and the culture for the Raiders, which is not something anyone has been comfortable believing for quite some time. This is a franchise that hasn't been to a Super Bowl since Jerry Rice and Tim Brown were catching passes from Rich Gannon. A depressing parade of QB options have come and gone since then, but the Raiders might have just tumbled into the sort of coveted prize that will finally change their fortunes—and the makeup of the AFC West.