Quarterback · Las Vegas Raiders

Fernando Mendoza

No. 15

The number one pick walks in, and the Raiders are already watching closely

There is a version of this moment that happens quietly. The number one overall pick shows up, shakes some hands, and everyone moves on. That is not what is happening with Fernando Mendoza.

Mendoza arrived as the most talked-about player entering the league this year — the first pick of the entire draft, which is a weight most people carry a little differently than they expected. How a player holds that weight in the first few days tells a team a lot.

The Las Vegas Raiders have been paying attention. Early impressions are already circulating inside the building, the kind that get reported on before a single real snap has been taken. That does not happen unless something is standing out.

What comes next is the part nobody can script. The Raiders drafted a person, not a projection, and right now they are watching to see who that person actually is.

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