Gutierrez: Accolades aside, Fernando Mendoza is still just one of the guys

May 02, 2026 at 02:35 PM

Raiders Columnist

Since December, Fernando Mendoza has won a Heisman Trophy.

He also led Indiana to a 16-0 national championship season.

And he was the NFL's No. 1 draft pick, courtesy of the Raiders.

But after Day 2 of rookie minicamp, one thing became increasingly clear - Mendoza is just one of the guys. With a quirky and endearing sense of humor quickly picked up on by his teammates.

Yes, despite the haughty accolades that could have him on a different plane.

Instead…

"He's just a guy's guy, honestly," said offensive lineman Trey Zuhn III, the Raiders' second third-round pick. "He just connects with everybody. He's super friendly, easy to talk to, getting to know everybody.

"He's a great leader and I'm happy to be working with him."

Mendoza's next-door neighbor in the locker room concurred.

"He is a super funny guy," said safety Treydan Stukes, the Raiders' second-round draft pick. "It has been so much fun sitting next to him. … I've only been there for what, three days? But it's been super cool getting to know him. I'm super excited to get to be his teammate. I love the way he attacks his work and he's a cool guy off the field, too. Super cool."

And this from defensive end Keyron Crawford: "I always watched his interviews just because I thought he was a funny person and he's just high character but also respectful. Being able to be alongside him, I'm going to definitely learn pointers from him because he's a very outstanding guy."

Related Links

Crawford continued, saying his agent called Mendoza immediately after the Raiders made Crawford their first pick in the third round. Just to check in.

"Once my name was called," Crawford said with a grin, "I was like, 'You know what, I'm fixing to be around a lot of good f---ing people.'"

Yes, it's only been two days.

But so much has already been revealed to the Raiders rookies, particularly when it comes to their quarterback.

A major storyline coming into camp was how much Mendoza needs to work on taking the snap from under center, given how he worked almost exclusively out of shotgun in college.

So, Friday night, Mendoza gathered his offensive line teammates in a room at the hotel to, yup, take reps with the QB under center.

"There's a lot to learn, Mendoza said. "There's a lot to learn - I'm a rookie - and I've learned a lot in these past two days. I feel really good coming out of this rookie minicamp with … Day 1 and Day 2 of the system. Imprinting it, being able to run it, rather than really having the application and the schematic on-paper part.

"I feel really, coming out of this rookie minicamp, it's going to be that repetition under center, getting those quicker feet and, just, you can always be faster and more efficient in your reads and decisiveness."

Holding a walkthrough in the team hotel is that first step.

Holding yourself to the same standard as your teammates, even with that aura and status around you, that's key.

Yes, again, even on Day 2 of rookie minicamp, when absorbing all the info coming your way is akin to drinking from a firehose.

"It's great to finally be back in football and have that information," Mendoza said. "And that's how you want it. You want it to be overwhelming … because when you're positively stressed by getting a lot of information, it allows you to grow.

"And so all of us rookies, and tryout guys, being able to get 'stressed' by the information - I say that in quotation marks - will allow us to grow. And we saw that from Day 1 to Day 2. So it's been a great opportunity. It's going to really help us rookies going into OTAs."

Especially with the quarterback and all of his accolades leading the way.

1 / 38

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jacob Clark (16) at day two of 2026 Rookie Minicamp at Intermountain Health Performance Center.