NFL Draft 2026: Who is Fernando Mendoza? Meet the new face of the Las Vegas Raiders

Fernando Mendoza announced on LinkedIn he was 'open to work' earlier this year. On Thursday, he found 'work' as the No 1 overall pick at the 2026 NFL Draft.

He is a self-embraced nerd, a conscientious thinker, a joyous competitor and an articulate business graduate who steers and inspires by example both on and off the field, now primed to be the new face of the Las Vegas Raiders.

If there was a supposed deflation in usual No 1 pick hype surrounding Mendoza, the Indiana quarterback would not know it, nor would he care.

He is accustomed to being undersold, accustomed to modest expectations and projections, and building quite the habit of exceeding as much as an odds-defying national champion.

Once upon a time Mendoza was ranked by 247Sports as just the 134th best quarterback prospect in the class of 2022 and the 250th best player in Florida coming out of Miami Columbus High School. Now he is the latest quarterback to shoulder hopes of invigorating a franchise desperate for direction.

In 21 of the last 30 years the No 1 overall pick at the NFL Draft has been a quarterback, including eight of the last 10 and in each of the last three years. Mendoza extended that streak.

The 22-year-old, who was born in Boston but grew up in Miami, attended Christopher Columbus High School before initially committing to play football at Ivy League Yale. He subsequently changed his decision in order to play at California, where he spent three seasons before transferring to Indiana in December 2024.

It would ignite Mendoza's breakout chapter as he spearheaded Indiana to a perfect 16-0 season and the school's first ever College Football National Championship title following a 27-21 win over Miami. He was later named College Football Player of the Year and Indiana's maiden Heisman Trophy winner after finishing the campaign 273 of 379 passing for 3,535 yards and 41 touchdowns to just six interceptions.

Cue consensus No 1 pick territory.