KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Fernando Mendoza spent Day 2 working under center – after already gathering his offensive linemen in a hotel room the night before for extra reps
• Teammates consistently described him as funny, humble, and a natural connector – “a guy’s guy”
• The rookie class is bonding fast: early mornings, late nights, hot tubs, playbook study sessions at the hotel
• Mendoza on the adjustment: “There’s a lot to learn – I’m a rookie”

THE NEWS

The Intermountain Health Performance Center has seen a lot of draft picks roll through its doors. But the scene on Day 2 of the Raiders’ 2026 rookie minicamp was something a little different. Not just because Fernando Mendoza was running drills – it’s because of what he was doing the night before those drills started.

Friday night, after the first day of practice wrapped, Mendoza pulled his offensive line together. Not a coach, not a trainer – him. They found a room at the team hotel and went to work. Snap, drop, footwork, reads. The things he never had to do at Indiana, where everything ran through the shotgun. He wanted to get ahead of it. He wanted his guys to trust him before the real reps even started.

“There’s a lot to learn,” Mendoza said after Day 2. “I’m a rookie – and I’ve learned a lot in these past two days.”

That sentence doesn’t come naturally to a Heisman winner who just went 16-0. But it’s exactly what his teammates noticed.

“He’s just a guy’s guy, honestly,” said Trey Zuhn III, the Raiders’ third-round pick. “He just connects with everybody. Super friendly, easy to talk to. He’s a great leader and I’m happy to be working with him.”

Safety Treydan Stukes, who sits next to Mendoza in the locker room, had an even simpler read: “He is a super funny guy. It has been so much fun sitting next to him.”

Defensive end Keyron Crawford, who said his agent called him the second his name was called to tell him he was headed to the Raiders, put it plainly: “Once my name was called, I was like ‘You know what, I’m fixing to be around a lot of good f–ing people.'”

That energy isn’t accidental. The rookies have built it into how they show up. Early mornings, late-night study sessions, hot tub recovery between reps. The camaraderie shows up in the details – fist bumps before drills, hands shaken after, the way the group rallies after a bad rep instead of letting it bleed.

“In rookie camp, everybody is trying to show out,” Mendoza said. “We’re always trying to rally together. Keep each other up – whether it’s a bad play or a good play. Have a neutral mindset.”

And then there’s the under-center work. At Indiana, Mendoza operated almost exclusively out of the shotgun. The NFL is different. Coach Klint Kubiak’s system asks for drops, footwork, timing that the college game doesn’t always demand. So Mendoza talked through it with quarterbacks coaches Mike Sullivan and Andrew Janocko, then watched Kirk Cousins do it in Minnesota and Sam Darnold do it in Seattle last year.

“Having the emphasis on those first two steps, securing the snap, getting out of there and being powerful while having quick feet – that’s what Coach Kubiak has talked to me about,” Mendoza said.

WALK THE PLANK

Here’s what matters about what we saw this weekend: this isn’t the highlight reel. This is the foundation-building. No pads, no full-speed 11-on-11, no real pressure – and still, Mendoza spent his Friday night in a hotel room running footwork drills with his offensive line.

That’s the difference between the guys who make it and the guys who don’t. He already has the grades, the hardware, the draft slot. What he doesn’t have is the muscle memory yet – and he knows it. And instead of waiting for someone to tell him, he organized it himself.

The rest of the rookie class is watching. When your franchise quarterback shows up humble and hungry on Day 1, it sets a tone. Crawford noticed it. Zuhn noticed it. Stukes noticed it. That locker room is going to remember those first two days – and so is the coaching staff.

The real season is months away. But the way these rookies are showing up right now? That’s the kind of thing that wins games in September.