Fernando Mendoza Welcome To Las Vegas

[Sold My Soul]

Call your shot....or add your own.

Dante Moore:

https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Dante-Moore-QB-UCLA

Fernando Mendoza:

https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Fer ... California

May the football godz look kindly down upon the feeble and inept.

[WolfRaider]

Alex Smith is a decent comp statistically, but there's some missing context.

First of all, Alex Smith had just 25 starts (Fernando 36, almost a full season more to evaluate). Smith also played against Mountain West opponents, while Fernando just conquered the guantlet of Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and Miami in consecutive weeks (all 4 of those teams have QB's who were projected first rounders at various times and all but Beck will likely be first rounders). What Fernando just did at Indiana can in no way compare to Alex Smiths 2003 12-0 season -- beating the likes of New Mexico, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming, etc while playing under one of the greatest college coaches of all time.

Now Alex Smith was a #1 overall pick, and was a pretty good player in the league, so it's not a disrespectful comp, but Mendoza, is bigger (both taller and heavier), so hopefully he holds up better than Smith, but what really separates Mendoza are the intangibles. He's extremely intelligent, he's a great leader, and I think he's about as tough as they get.

BTW: If you were to combine the best aspects of those 4 comps (Luck, Lawrence, Goff and Smith), you'd have a hall of fame player, and hopefully that's what we're getting with Mendoza.

I think right now, he's being undersold as a prospect because there's a lot of Raider haters in the media who don't want to admit that the joke is over and the Raider are finally going to be for real. Mendoza is a helluva player, and he's going to be a Raider.

20 years ago he would’ve been seen as generational. He’s ticking every box you want from a franchise QB. From on the field and off it. But people will say he’s not worth a top 1st round pick. Like you said, because it’s the raiders taking him

[WolfRaider]

Alex Smith is a decent comp statistically, but there's some missing context.

First of all, Alex Smith had just 25 starts (Fernando 36, almost a full season more to evaluate). Smith also played against Mountain West opponents, while Fernando just conquered the guantlet of Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and Miami in consecutive weeks (all 4 of those teams have QB's who were projected first rounders at various times and all but Beck will likely be first rounders). What Fernando just did at Indiana can in no way compare to Alex Smiths 2003 12-0 season -- beating the likes of New Mexico, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming, etc while playing under one of the greatest college coaches of all time.

Now Alex Smith was a #1 overall pick, and was a pretty good player in the league, so it's not a disrespectful comp, but Mendoza, is bigger (both taller and heavier), so hopefully he holds up better than Smith, but what really separates Mendoza are the intangibles. He's extremely intelligent, he's a great leader, and I think he's about as tough as they get.

BTW: If you were to combine the best aspects of those 4 comps (Luck, Lawrence, Goff and Smith), you'd have a hall of fame player, and hopefully that's what we're getting with Mendoza.

I think right now, he's being undersold as a prospect because there's a lot of Raider haters in the media who don't want to admit that the joke is over and the Raider are finally going to be for real. Mendoza is a helluva player, and he's going to be a Raider.

20 years ago he would’ve been seen as generational. He’s ticking every box you want from a franchise QB. From on the field and off it. But people will say he’s not worth a top 1st round pick. Like you said, because it’s the raiders taking him

[rcraider]

Alex Smith is a decent comp statistically, but there's some missing context.

First of all, Alex Smith had just 25 starts (Fernando 36, almost a full season more to evaluate). Smith also played against Mountain West opponents, while Fernando just conquered the guantlet of Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and Miami in consecutive weeks (all 4 of those teams have QB's who were projected first rounders at various times and all but Beck will likely be first rounders). What Fernando just did at Indiana can in no way compare to Alex Smiths 2003 12-0 season -- beating the likes of New Mexico, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming, etc while playing under one of the greatest college coaches of all time.

Now Alex Smith was a #1 overall pick, and was a pretty good player in the league, so it's not a disrespectful comp, but Mendoza, is bigger (both taller and heavier), so hopefully he holds up better than Smith, but what really separates Mendoza are the intangibles. He's extremely intelligent, he's a great leader, and I think he's about as tough as they get.

BTW: If you were to combine the best aspects of those 4 comps (Luck, Lawrence, Goff and Smith), you'd have a hall of fame player, and hopefully that's what we're getting with Mendoza.

I think right now, he's being undersold as a prospect because there's a lot of Raider haters in the media who don't want to admit that the joke is over and the Raider are finally going to be for real. Mendoza is a helluva player, and he's going to be a Raider.

I would say Alex Smith had the weakest arm out of all of them, but he was good for a west coast style offense.

[Attyla]

I would say Alex Smith had the weakest arm out of all of them, but he was good for a west coast style offense.

Fernando has a better arm than Smith. He is a Burrow type arm. Lawrence has a great arm, but Mendoza has a better head on his shoulders. Out of that group, obviously, Luck is the crown jewel. If Mendoza can get to 80% Luck taken level we got something. He just needs blocking. As has been stated, we really don't know how good or bad our linemen are because of the shit coaching. But I am confident Spytek is going to be aggressive when it comes to protection for Mendoza and Jeanty.

But you all need to remember we have two above average blocking TEs as well. I know you all want Bowers in coverage but the chip release that Bowers already has in his arsenal is very effective.

[tatalalicious]

Alex Smith is a decent comp statistically, but there's some missing context.

First of all, Alex Smith had just 25 starts (Fernando 36, almost a full season more to evaluate). Smith also played against Mountain West opponents, while Fernando just conquered the guantlet of Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and Miami in consecutive weeks (all 4 of those teams have QB's who were projected first rounders at various times and all but Beck will likely be first rounders). What Fernando just did at Indiana can in no way compare to Alex Smiths 2003 12-0 season -- beating the likes of New Mexico, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming, etc while playing under one of the greatest college coaches of all time.

Now Alex Smith was a #1 overall pick, and was a pretty good player in the league, so it's not a disrespectful comp, but Mendoza, is bigger (both taller and heavier), so hopefully he holds up better than Smith, but what really separates Mendoza are the intangibles. He's extremely intelligent, he's a great leader, and I think he's about as tough as they get.

BTW: If you were to combine the best aspects of those 4 comps (Luck, Lawrence, Goff and Smith), you'd have a hall of fame player, and hopefully that's what we're getting with Mendoza.

I think right now, he's being undersold as a prospect because there's a lot of Raider haters in the media who don't want to admit that the joke is over and the Raider are finally going to be for real. Mendoza is a helluva player, and he's going to be a Raider.

Pretty funny watching Dan Patrick all upset at the very idea of the Raiders drafting Mendoza, passionately arguing that they need to trade the pick and "build the team first"? Which will never make sense to me. Never seen anything like it before, all this concern for a team at the top of the draft picking a qb.

[Oaktown Superman]

They’re picking there because they have no viable QB on the roster. You fix that first, then add pieces around him.

[Oaktown Superman]

Pretty funny watching Dan Patrick all upset at the very idea of the Raiders drafting Mendoza, passionately arguing that they need to trade the pick and "build the team first"? Which will never make sense to me. Never seen anything like it before, all this concern for a team at the top of the draft picking a qb.

Funny how that didn’t work in New England, Chicago, or Washington.

[raider_kin]

They’re picking there because they have no viable QB on the roster. You fix that first, then add pieces around him.

You can fill the other holes with FA and the draft more readily than finding your franchise QB. AS many posters here have said Franchise QBs come from the very top of the draft, very rarely anywhere else.

[Oaktown Superman]

You can fill the other holes with FA and the draft more readily than finding your franchise QB. AS many posters here have said Franchise QBs come from the very top of the draft, very rarely anywhere else.

12 of 14 QB’s in the playoffs this year were drafted in the first round. Hurts was in the second and Purdy Mr. Irrelevant. So, drafting at the top gives you a historical chance of drafting your franchise QB, not trading it for more picks and letting another team feast on your stupidity. What Dan Patrick is suggesting is GM suicide.

[chucker]

I understand the concern with adding a franchise QB, given what our oline looked like last year. But we can fix the oline in an offeason - we have some pieces on the roster, we can hire a better oline coach and have an offensive staff that works better overall, we can add in FA, and we can add in the draft.

That doesn't mean we will do any of that. We were in the same situation last year with the oline and the resources available to improve it and we f[raiders_icon]cked it up completely. When fans and outside observers predict doom and gloom, it's not a baseless prediction. I believe that they do it better this year. I also understand the skepticism of others.

[Oaktown Superman]

I understand the concern with adding a franchise QB, given what our oline looked like last year. But we can fix the oline in an offeason - we have some pieces on the roster, we can hire a better oline coach and have an offensive staff that works better overall, we can add in FA, and we can add in the draft.

That doesn't mean we will do any of that. We were in the same situation last year with the oline and the resources available to improve it and we fcked it up completely. When fans and outside observers predict doom and gloom, it's not a baseless prediction. I believe that they do it better this year. I also understand the skepticism of others.

Let Chicago have traded out of the top spot and watch the media go bezerk on them. But the Raiders draft a QB there and that’s the dumb thing to do. Oh, to be a Raiders fan these days!

[Oaktown Superman]

I understand the concern with adding a franchise QB, given what our oline looked like last year. But we can fix the oline in an offeason - we have some pieces on the roster, we can hire a better oline coach and have an offensive staff that works better overall, we can add in FA, and we can add in the draft.

That doesn't mean we will do any of that. We were in the same situation last year with the oline and the resources available to improve it and we fcked it up completely. When fans and outside observers predict doom and gloom, it's not a baseless prediction. I believe that they do it better this year. I also understand the skepticism of others.

I agree they are more than Fernando Mendoza away from winning their next Lombardi, but unless/until they adequately address the QB dilemma, they are no closer five years from now than they are today. It starts and stops at the QB position.

[chucker]

Let Chicago have traded out of the top spot and watch the media go bezerk on them. But the Raiders draft a QB there and that’s the dumb thing to do. Oh, to be a Raiders fan these days!

We need to draft Mendoza. We're going to draft Mendoza. He's going to start from day 1 unless he looks like garbage in camp. The only reason not to draft a franchise QB when you have the first pick is because you don't believe he's good enough to be a franchise QB. You can't use your own team situation as justification for passing on a guy you think is good.

[SkullCrusher]

Let Chicago have traded out of the top spot and watch the media go bezerk on them. But the Raiders draft a QB there and that’s the dumb thing to do. Oh, to be a Raiders fan these days!

Of all the things I've seen over the years, if we didn't take Mendoza it would cause the single largest group of Raider fans bailing. Mark knows it to and yes he would still override everyone if they came up with something else. It's like I finally get to date prime Christy Brinkley and I pass saying I need to work more on me first. Oh Jerry.

[Oaktown Superman]

FYI: I made this.