Key Takeaways
- Raiders will host Fernando Mendoza on a Top 30 visit
- Pro Day is April 1, Vegas visit to follow shortly after
- April 24 draft is the destination
- Mike Sullivan hire reinforces the plan
It was always coming, but now it is official. The Las Vegas Raiders will host quarterback Fernando Mendoza on a Top 30 pre-draft visit, according to Ian Rapoport. His Pro Day at Indiana is April 1, and the Raiders visit will come right after — giving the organization one final look at their presumptive No. 1 overall pick before the April 24 draft.
The visit is standard procedure for a team picking first overall. It is also a formality that signals what everyone has assumed since the season ended: the Raiders are locking in on Mendoza as their franchise quarterback of the future.
That plan got even clearer this week with the addition of Mike Sullivan as quarterbacks coach. Sullivan spent the last four seasons with the Steelers, working with Kenny Pickett and Ben Roethlisberger. He won two Super Bowls coaching Eli Manning. If you are going to develop a 21-year-old rookie, you want someone who has done it before — and done it at the highest level.
The Raiders still need to address the rest of the quarterback room. Joe Flacco re-signed with Cincinnati, leaving no veteran bridge option currently on the roster. That question remains open heading into the draft — whether they add a veteran in free agency or roll with what they have behind Mendoza.
But the infrastructure around the quarterback is being built the right way. Kubiak as offensive coordinator. Sullivan as QBs coach. The offensive line reinforced with Tyler Linderbaum. A receiving corps that now includes Jalen Nailor. The pieces around the quarterback are being assembled.
April 1 is the date to watch. Mendoza is expected to light up the Pro Day — he has the tools that made him the top quarterback in this class. Then it is off to Las Vegas for the final look.
Three weeks from tonight, the draft stage opens. The Raiders are on the clock. Everything points to Mendoza’s name being called.
Walk the Plank
Raider Nation has been waiting for a real answer at quarterback. The Minshew experiment. The AOC era. Nothing stuck. Now, for the first time in years, the franchise appears to have a plan and the conviction to see it through.
There will be skeptics. Rookie quarterbacks fail more often than they succeed. But this front office has not acted like a team that is hoping — they have acted like a team that knows. The coaching hires. The offensive line investment. The way they have talked about the transition. This does not feel like another half-measure.
Fernando Mendoza is 21 years old, coming off a season at Indiana that put him on every team’s radar. The pieces around him are being built specifically to protect him and give him weapons. Mike Sullivan is the steady hand in the room.
The next three weeks will confirm what the plan has been all along. Raider Nation should enjoy this one.
