The Jets are exhausting all their options at quarterback this offseason. They own the No. 2 overall selection in the 2026 NFL Draft, but Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza likely won't be an option when the Green & White go on the clock early in Round 1 on April 23 in Pittsburgh.
"Whatever team drafts me, I'm extremely grateful," Mendoza told reporters Friday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. "Whether it's the No. 1 pick of whether it's the last pick in the draft -- I'd be blessed and honored to be drafted by any team. I'm going to give it my all."
All signs point to Mendoza wearing silver and black next season for the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders own the No. 1 pick, and Mendoza is coming off a season in which he won a Heisman Trophy and led the Indiana Hoosiers to a most improbable national championship. IU went 16-0 as Mendoza hit on 72% of his passes for 3,535 yards with 41 TDs and just 6 INTs.
"I believe with an NFL franchise, to lead it, you need equity, and then you need two things to build equity," Mendoza said. "You need, one, to play well. And that's where all my focus goes in -- football, football, football," Mendoza said. "If you want to lead, you first have to play well. And then second, it's having the respect of your teammates. Through work ethic, through your leadership, through your tenacity -- the way you respond to mistakes. And so those are all things I'm looking to work on."
Mendoza (6-5, 225), a Miami, FL, native who attended Christopher Columbus high school, started his college journey at California and was redshirted in 2022. He played 20 games for the Golden Bears, connecting on 66.5% of his passes for 4,712 yards with 30 TDs and 16 INTs. Then he transferred to Indiana and joined his younger brother, Alberto Mendoza, and took over the offensive reins for HC Curt Cignetti.
"The margins are so small and if you really obsess over the small details -- it gives you the small edge and then you're able to jump and you're able to improve and you're able to get better than the competition especially when you're talking about nutrition for example or your discipline," Mendoza said. "If you are disciplined and you really stay consistent, you're going to be able to rise in the rankings. I think that's something I really prided myself on whether it was at Cal, whether it was at Indiana."
While his Indiana biography states Mendoza was "tabbed the No. 72 quarterback nationally per ESPN," Mendoza recalled being further down the prospect rankings in high school. When he transferred from California to Indiana, he was the No. 3 QB in ESPN's transfer rankings and had two more seasons of eligibility. After his one season ended with a Big 10 championship game win over Ohio State and playoff victories over Alabama, Oregon and Miami, Mendoza finds himself universally atop every mock draft.
"You can't really listen to social media but the national quarterback rankings I think I was like the 134th quarterback coming out of my own class in high school and I was raw," Mendoza said. "That was a true ranking. I was a raw prospect. I was terrible, so it's about small wins every day and it's all about discipline."
Mendoza, who earned his bachelor's degree in administration from Cal in three years, is an excellent on-field processor who's as competitive as they come. He gravitated toward football because he loved the strategy involved and it was a team game.
"If you're not the smartest, you can still out-will your way and physical," he said. "If you're not the fastest, you can always be smart and have good instincts. There are just so many different angles that you can be successful in. I just love the variety in that. All the NFL superstars -- there is no cookie-cutter mold that you need to be."
