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Las Vegas Raiders QB Fernando Mendoza

There was a small push by some in the media to suggest that former Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza wasn’t worthy of the No. 1 pick in the draft. The Las Vegas Raiders didn’t listen and came to the decision that he does have franchise quarterback potential.

He’s just getting started, but the team seems very happy with Mendoza already. However, some still aren’t buying that he has that much upside at quarterback.

Mendoza has great size and is a really smart player, but doesn’t boast elite athletic traits. Even the stuff that he did do well is coming under fire from a coach. ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg spoke to coaches around college football, and one of them went after Mendoza in brutal fashion.

“He’s a good decision-maker, but I don’t think he’s got the NFL traits,” a coach told ESPN. “They’re all back-shoulder [throws]. That’s not working in the NFL. His receivers made plays to make him look better than he is. In the NFL, those throws are getting picked off.”

Back-shoulder throws work all the time in the NFL, so it’s an odd thing to knock Mendoza on. Yes, they’ll be harder to hit on consistently, but he’s going to keep adding new tools to his game.

Other Coach Higher on Mendoza

The anonymous coach’s opinion isn’t one that’s shared with many other coaches. Another coach pointed out that Mendoza had a lot of help, but also thinks he has traits that are difficult for players to learn.

“He had a lot of support, lot of help there, so we’ll see what he can do,” a Power 4 defensive coordinator told ESPN. “What I was impressed with him is coming up big. You can’t teach that, and he has it.”

Mendoza doesn’t project to be the next Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, but he can still be a top-10 quarterback within the next few years if things go right in Las Vegas.

Mendoza Knows He Needs to Work

Mendoza played a lot of football in college, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready for the NFL yet. He’s played against some really good competition, but even the rookies at rookie minicamp are showing him how big the leap in quality has been.

“Yesterday I was like, ‘Wow, I have a lot to work on,'” Mendoza told reporters recently.

“The NFL players, everybody here in rookie camp, these are all really, really good players. So I need to elevate my level of play to then when we go to OTAs next week and then training camp. So it’s good to start back in the bottom of the totem pole. I have a lot to learn … but with great coaches and great players around me, I’m excited to do it.”

Mendoza has never been afraid to put in the work, so that shouldn’t be a problem for him. The biggest question he’ll need to answer before the Raiders name him as the starter is if he has the playbook down enough to run the offense as a rookie.