The NFL regular season is officially over, and the playoffs are set to begin this weekend. With the regular season over, that means over half of the draft order is set from one through 18. The Indiana Hoosiers are set to potentially have a couple of players taken early in the 2026 NFL Draft, including quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
The Heisman Trophy winner is currently projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and with the draft order set, it looks like he will be heading to Las Vegas, Nevada, to play for the Las Vegas Raiders.
The 2026 NFL Draft order is set for picks 1-18. 👀 pic.twitter.com/HPEGsbErSh
— NFL (@NFL) January 5, 2026
The Raiders have not taken a quarterback in the NFL Draft in the first round of the draft since 2007, when they drafted JaMarcus Russell. This means that if the Raiders truly end up taking Mendoza, they are believing he can be their franchise guy for the future.
While some may feel like Mendoza going to the Raiders is a bad thing, it does feel like it could be worse for the Indiana quarterback. The Raiders just recently fired their head coach, Pete Carroll, on Black Monday, the day after the end of the regular season, when coaches typically get fired. However, Mendoza would be stepping into a position that does have support around him.
Mendoza could be in a worse position if the New York Jets or New York Giants had the No. 1 overall pick. The Jets are truly one of the worst, if not the worst, teams in the league, even though they don't have the No. 1 overall pick. They have not had a steady quarterback leading the team in years, and before the trade deadline, they went on a selling spree where they officially said it is time for a rebuild.
The Jets have been in a rebuild for years and can't figure out how to get out of the dumps. The Giants probably wouldn't have gone for Mendoza, as they have quarterback Jaxson Dart, who became the starter about four games into the regular season. While he had his struggles, Dart still showed more promise than past quarterbacks.
The Giants, like the Raiders, are also looking for a new head coach, but at least the Vegas job is a little more appealing.
The biggest thing about being the No. 1 overall pick is that you certainly are not going to the best team in the league, but Mendoza has worked with less before and still succeeded, so maybe he can finally be the difference maker for the Raiders.