A calm, almost a sense of relief, exuded from John Spytek after he turned in the Raiders' draft card, making Fernando Mendoza the No. 1 pick of the 2026 NFL Draft.

A fait accompli?

Maybe.

The worst kept draft decision secret in the NFL?

Meh.

Minutes after selecting Mendoza, the Raiders' second-year general manager joined me on the balcony overlooking the team's indoor practice field to discuss the pick. Gone was the nervous energy of a year earlier, when the palpable adrenaline was still pumping through his body after picking Ashton Jeanty.

Spytek, who told me earlier this offseason he would describe himself more as "confident" than "comfortable" in his role, was at peace.

Big time.

"Well, I got the first draft out of the way, you know? Your first draft, you live your whole life waiting for that one," Spytek told me. "So, yeah, the adrenaline was flowing and the heart was racing a little bit [last year]."

Now?

"There was no mystery in terms of, we controlled our own destiny today," he said. "And so, we were convicted with this maybe a couple days ago, maybe a couple weeks ago, nobody will ever know. But this was a fun day to know exactly where we were going to end up because the decision had been made."

Days ago? Weeks ago? When Spytek, owner Mark Davis and minority owner Tom Brady traveled to South Florida to watch the Heisman winner's ping-pong run to glory to beat Miami and lead Indiana to the national title?

To quote Spytek, nobody will ever know.

Maybe not even Mendoza himself.

Mendoza chose to celebrate the draft with his family in Miami, complete with a matanza, a roasted pig feast, in his backyard. And even he claimed he wasn't completely sure the Raiders would ring.

"There's been a lot of anticipation whether I was going to end up here," he told me with a straight face on a Zoom call. "And nothing was ever for certain, except for tonight. So when I saw that call, I got a whole lot of chills on my entire body, and I was ecstatic. There's a lot of emotion, even right now.

"However, I understand this is not the end of the journey, although this is a celebration, this is a start of a new thing. And like Coach [Klint] Kubiak told me on the phone – stay humble and hungry and to keep on trying to learn every single day."

And with that, Mendoza became just the fourth quarterback to be taken by the Raiders in the first round of the draft since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. He joins Marc Wilson (No. 15 overall in 1980), Todd Marinovich (No. 24 in 1991) and JaMarcus Russell (No. 1 in 2007).

Expectations are high - they should be for a No. 1 pick - but Spytek and Kubiak have put together an offseason that should protect their investment.

Signing center Tyler Linderbaum, receivers Jalen Nailor and Dareke Young, fullback Connor Heyward and guard Spencer Burford in free agency added volume to the offense.

Inking veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins as a mentor/insurance policy provided cushion.

So what, exactly, should Raider Nation expect from their newest, shiniest acquisition? After all, the last No. 1 pick QB to redshirt his rookie NFL season was Carson Palmer in 2003 with the Bengals.

"They should expect the same guy that we've seen along the way the whole time. He's a hard-working, driven, extremely smart young man," Spytek said. "He's been a great teammate - I think we've all seen that - that embraces his teammates. He tries to highlight his teammates. He's extremely tough, he's highly competitive and he's a guy that loves football. And he doesn't just love bits and pieces of it; I think he loves the entirety of it. And he proved that to us over the course of the last three or four months."

See, the Raiders have been keeping tabs, while staying true to their process throughout.

"He's going to be willing to give his best to Raider Nation," Spytek added. "He's going to compete his tail off with Kirk and with Aidan [O'Connell]. And as we said, this is a meritocracy. This is the NFL. The best guy will play.

"How fast he gets up to speed and starts pushing those guys, we'll see. That will be a lot up to Fernando, too. But we expect him to come in ready to roll. That's the kind of person he is."

You could say the same of Spytek. Because as rank-and-file Raiders employees congratulated him on Mendoza, Spytek, in turn, offered his own congratulations to said employees.

Calmly.

"This was not a coronation," Spytek said. "But every step of the way, he kept checking boxes."