Fernando Mendoza is an almost certain draft pick for the Las Vegas Raiders in a few weeks. Apparently, he is even already preparing for his team’s future offense.

It’s an open secret that Fernando Mendoza will be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Las Vegas Raiders hold the first pick and everything points to the Indiana Hoosiers quarterback being chosen.

Mendoza himself is apparently convinced of this too. As NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah revealed on the “Pat McAfee Show”, the 22-year-old is already working intensively on the Raiders’ future offense.

Mendoza is working with former NFL pro Brian Griese to understand the game system of future head coach Klint Kubiak. Griese is very familiar with Kubiak’s playbook. The former quarterback won the Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos in January 1999 under Klint’s father Gary Kubiak.

Mendoza works with Kubiak insider

Griese also has connections to Klint Kubiak, as they worked together on Kyle Shanahan’s coaching staff at the San Francisco 49ers in the 2023 season. Griese was the Niners’ quarterbacks coach at the time, while Kubiak was the passing game coordinator.

“They’re working on getting the Raiders’ offense dialed in. He’s hitting the ground running,“ Jeremiah said of Mendoza: ”The same thing happened with [Joe] Burrow: You can use that time to really learn the basic plays and concepts of the offense.” Burrow was a 2020 first overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals.

After parting ways with quarterback Geno Smith, who was sent to the New York Jets via trade, anything other than the Mendoza pick to start this year’s draft in Pittsburgh would be a middling earthquake for the Raiders to cause.

Written by Thomas Maier