Fernando Mendoza enters first training camp ready to learn, listen and lean into the grind

Jul 24, 2026 at 04:20 PM

Raiders Columnist

The ink on Fernando Mendoza's signature for his rookie contract was barely dry and the the No. 1 overall draft pick was already on to the next task at hand.

Competition.

Sure, Mendoza, who signed his deal on Thursday, rolls into Raiders training camp next week with a Heisman Trophy, his draft status and the hopes of an entire (Raider) Nation in his back pocket. But nothing is guaranteed.

And that's exactly how Mendoza wants it. That's how he should want it. Accolades or not.

"Being a part of the Silver and Black, we want to compete every single day and do the best that we can for the organization and best for the team so we can win games," Mendoza told me Friday on the most recent episode of Upon Further Review.

"Everybody in the quarterback room is a top-tier quarterback and it's going to be competing with each other, not competing against each other."

Say what? In the cut-throat world of professional football guys competing against each other actually have each other's backs, rather than trying to bury a sharp object in it?

Indeed.

Even with Mendoza's laurels, Kirk Cousins' veteran presence, Aidan O'Connell's stick-to-it-iveness and Jacob Clark's youthful exuberance.

So what, exactly, does that look like in the Raiders' re-jiggered quarterback room? How does it feel?

"Competing with each other [is] pushing each other to be the best quarterback we can possibly be for the Las Vegas Raiders, and to enable [us] to then win as many games as possible," Mendoza said. "Against [is] withholding information, wishing maybe not the best intent on somebody."

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As Mendoza reiterated, the Raiders QBs are actually hoping for the best for each other entering camp.

"'Hey, I saw this,' or, 'Hey, I saw that,'" he said, referencing talk amongst the signal callers. "Competing with each other and growing with each other."

And therein lies the key.

Remember, a week before the Raiders signed Cousins in free agency and more than three weeks before drafting Mendoza, new coach Klint Kubiak said, in a perfect word, a rookie doesn't start from Day 1. Rather, he learns at the knee of an accomplished vet.

Well…

"It just takes," Mendoza said, "it's all these different perspectives of how people have done things in previous offenses - how they attack learning the playbook, the play calls - there's just so many different intricacies with an offense. As a quarterback you need to be, essentially, all-knowing of the offense for your teammates to have confidence in you when you step out on that field. I have such great resources of information, whether it be the coaches, my teammates, especially in the quarterback room.

"It's basically all in the palm of my hand and I just need to take advantage of it."

Like he did against Auburn in 2024 against one of his future Raiders draft classmates.

Mendoza, then at Cal, went on the road to beat Keyron Crawford's Tigers, 21-14.

"Yeah," Crawford laughed, "he was dotting us up."

To the tune of 233 passing yards and two touchdowns without an interception while completing 25-of-36 attempts.

Two years later, is Mendoza the same guy?

Crawford did not hesitate.

"He's definitely the same guy, yeah, but he's also 10 times better," Crawford said.

"He's tremendous, well-spoken and he definitely brings everything to the table. Not too many people see the same Fernando as they see on TV. Like, when they see him on TV and they see him on interviews and everything else, he's nice. But in between those lines, Fernando is definitely a different person."

Fair enough.

Mendoza and his skillset have been compared to the likes of the cerebral and sneaky-athletic Andrew Luck, a more mobile Bernie Kosar and, of course, one of his new bosses.

Tom Brady was Mendoza's "hero" growing up - yes, even if Mendoza was in Miami and Brady was in New England before a short stop in Tampa Bay - so there was definitely that shake-your-head and wipe-your-eyes moment for Mendoza when he met him.

And now having a personal relationship with him?

"It's surreal," Mendoza said. "It's surreal. However, you know, he's been such a great resource and he's been, from a young age, he's been a big idol of mine and then now it's, OK, Tom is a human being. Yes, he's an exceptional human being, but he's a human being.

"So, take what you can, learn from him, and make sure that you value that relationship, rather than looking at him with googly eyes every second. He wants to be treated as a human being and he is, like I said, an exceptional human being, and he's someone that has a lot of characteristics and values that I look up to as a football player and [as] a character outside of football. But having that relationship is surreal and if you would have told me 10 years ago, I never would have believed you."

Training camp beckons.

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Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) arrives for 2026 season Training Camp at Intermountain Health Performance Center.