Raiderstation

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.

SkullCrusher wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 9:20 am Yep.

I'm not saying he's a better prospect than Caleb, Chase or Drake but he would have been right in the mix.
Penix and Bo we're solid prospects as well, what a QB class that was.
But Mendoza's would have been right in there.
We would have got our QB that year if he was, we were one QB short of getting ours.

I know im in the minority but the only guy in that class I might take over Mendoza is Maye. I’m glad we didn’t end up with penix.

Drafting Mendoza and building a bully of an OLine this year will set us up for long term success. I’m f[raiders_icon]cking pumped.

Raidernation1979 wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 9:28 am I know im in the minority but the only guy in that class I might take over Mendoza is Maye. I’m glad we didn’t end up with penix.

If you are taking what we know now, maybe.
But if I wasn't clear and no big either way, I was just going with pre-draft prospects for an apples to apples comp.
Comparing now is unfair to the others as Mendoza hasn't proved diddly in the NFL.
Caleb was the best prospect at least since Joe and he was probably a better prospect than Joe.

Honestly I think all the names are solid and while Penix isn't doing great, bad teams have that affect on QB's.
He might be good in the right position.

SkullCrusher wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 10:03 am If you are taking what we know now, maybe.
But if I wasn't clear and no big either way, I was just going with pre-draft prospects for an apples to apples comp.
Comparing now is unfair to the others as Mendoza hasn't proved diddly in the NFL.
Caleb was the best prospect at least since Joe and he was probably a better prospect than Joe.

Honestly I think all the names are solid and while Penix isn't doing great, bad teams have that affect on QB's.
He might be good in the right position.

I never liked Caleb as a prospect. Still don’t. Knowing just the pre draft stuff my top 3 is Mendoza was in that draft (this version of him) would have been Maye, Mendoza or Daniels. Wasn’t a fan of Caleb, Nix or Penix

Raidernation1979 wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 10:11 am I never liked Caleb as a prospect. Still don’t. Knowing just the pre draft stuff my top 3 is Mendoza was in that draft (this version of him) would have been Maye, Mendoza or Daniels. Wasn’t a fan of Caleb, Nix or Penix

Fine, but I'm going more on a consensus. We can find anyone for anything, he was considered the best prospect in years.

Does Mendoza pre-draft compare to those pre-draft, I think so. He wouldn't have topped Caleb, but Drake and Daniels he probably fits in there, if not right behind them. He's definitely a top QB prospect in any year and I think would be drafted in the top 10 picks.

SkullCrusher wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 10:14 am Fine, but I'm going more on a consensus. We can find anyone for anything, he was considered the best prospect in years.

Does Mendoza pre-draft compare to those pre-draft, I think so. He wouldn't have topped Caleb, but Drake and Daniels, probably.

Agreed. But that’s because these days people get mesmerized by splash plays and scramblers. I tend to prefer guys who can win from the pocket who are functionally mobile. I like QBs who can move a safety with his eyes. Guys with excellent ball placement. Carrbage was “accurate” or had a high completion percentage but his ball placement wasn’t great. There is in a lot of cases a correlation between good qbs and intelligence/ability to process information quickly.

Raidernation1979 wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 10:19 am Agreed. But that’s because these days people get mesmerized by splash plays and scramblers. I tend to prefer guys who can win from the pocket who are functionally mobile. I like QBs who can move a safety with his eyes. Guys with excellent ball placement. Carrbage was “accurate” or had a high completion percentage but his ball placement wasn’t great. There is in a lot of cases a correlation between good qbs and intelligence/ability to process information quickly.

I think he was the top QB as well fwiw, I will say his second 1/2 of his Sr year he fell off, most were saying USC wasn't going anywhere, he was taking quite a few hits and there was nothing more for him to prove, those are correct. But I'm thinking there might have been an injury, he's lost accuracy but it wasn't easy to pinpoint at draft and how much that would affect him. His story if far from over and the Bears have a shot, the 4 NFC teams are all pretty good and have a legit shot.

Raidernation1979 wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 10:19 am Agreed. But that’s because these days people get mesmerized by splash plays and scramblers. I tend to prefer guys who can win from the pocket who are functionally mobile. I like QBs who can move a safety with his eyes. Guys with excellent ball placement. Carrbage was “accurate” or had a high completion percentage but his ball placement wasn’t great. There is in a lot of cases a correlation between good qbs and intelligence/ability to process information quickly.

I haven't watched a lot of Mendoza except for these last 4 games or so. But I've seen him more than a few times proceed to his read #2 and get rid of the ball, almost in 1 movement. It was lightning fast. If it wasn't lightning fast processing, then he was looking off the safety purposefully. I was slightly impressed. It's hard to evaluate college QB's when they run so many RPO's and are only out of the shotgun. But I've seen more than a few times do what you mention.

SkullCrusher wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 10:26 am I think he was the top QB as well fwiw, I will say his second 1/2 of his Sr year he fell off, most were saying USC wasn't going anywhere, he was taking quite a few hits and there was nothing more for him to prove, those are correct. But I'm thinking there might have been an injury, he's lost accuracy but it wasn't easy to pinpoint at draft and how much that would affect him. His story if far from over and the Bears have a shot, the 4 NFC teams are all pretty good and have a legit shot.

The bears aren’t good. They’ve had an amazingly lucky season. They haven’t beaten anyone. The only playoff teams they’ve beaten are Pittsburgh, Philly and Green Bay. For the record Denver hasn’t beaten anyone either. I think both those teams go out this weekend.

SkullCrusher wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 9:20 am Yep.

I'm not saying he's a better prospect than Caleb, Chase or Drake but he would have been right in the mix.
Penix and Bo we're solid prospects as well, what a QB class that was.
But Mendoza's would have been right in there.
We would have got our QB that year if he was, we were one QB short of getting ours.

If I’m trying to be objective, I’d put him a notch below the top 3 and definitively above the other 3 (bo, penix, JJ). In terms of just how good of a prospect is he - for me he’d be in the stroud category - a tier below “generational”

2024 was a crazy draft in that the top 3 QBs would all be QB1 on their own by a mile in almost any other draft. You’d probably be limited to Luck, Lawrence and Burrow in terms of prospects that would go ahead of any of those 3.

Mendoza’s hype as a generational prospect suffers from a few things. He’s a late bloomer. Often times to come out of nowhere and get the “generational label” you need either otherworldly numbers or a prodigy level athletic profile. Mendoza doesn’t quite have either. His game isn’t the ultra-trendy backyard ball. His individual performance is somewhat overshadow by the teams success - he’s getting the “perfect environment” argument as a detractor.

With that being said, he’s one of the most pro-ready QBs I’ve seen in a long time. In fact I’d chalk up the weaker parts of his game to bells and whistles. Every successful QB has the same underlying skill set around accuracy, IQ, pocket awareness, decision making… and you watch him play for 5 minutes and obvious he has all of those.

raiders93 wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 11:55 am If I’m trying to be objective, I’d put him a notch below the top 3 and definitively above the other 3 (bo, penix, JJ). In terms of just how good of a prospect is he - for me he’d be in the stroud category - a tier below “generational”

2024 was a crazy draft in that the top 3 QBs would all be QB1 on their own by a mile in almost any other draft. You’d probably be limited to Luck, Lawrence and Burrow in terms of prospects that would go ahead of any of those 3.

Mendoza’s hype as a generational prospect suffers from a few things. He’s a late bloomer. Often times to come out of nowhere and get the “generational label” you need either otherworldly numbers or a prodigy level athletic profile. Mendoza doesn’t quite have either. His game isn’t the ultra-trendy backyard ball. His individual performance is somewhat overshadow by the teams success - he’s getting the “perfect environment” argument as a detractor.

With that being said, he’s one of the most pro-ready QBs I’ve seen in a long time. In fact I’d chalk up the weaker parts of his game to bells and whistles. Every successful QB has the same underlying skill set around accuracy, IQ, pocket awareness, decision making… and you watch him play for 5 minutes and obvious he has all of those.

I’m curious, what are the weaker parts of his game?

Raidernation1979 wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 12:00 pm I’m curious, what are the weaker parts of his game?

His deep ball, but as we saw in his last two games, that might be more hype than substance. He is not going to throw 70 yards off his knees, but then again does anyone ask a QB to do that ever? He tends to like sideline throws and while those are effective, it limits the receiver once the ball is caught. Balls in the middle of the field, particularly those between the LBs and safeties are not his best move, but you have so much more area to get YAC yards. His scrambling, while it can be effective on designed plays, are not pretty. If he is forced to move in the pocket he can, but when the play breaks down he is a bit gangly when he runs.

Look, no prospect is perfect but he processes quickly, he is accurate as hell and he finds the end zone. Indiana's game is run oriented so he is rarely asked to put the game on his shoulders. But he can when needed and does when needed. His back shoulder pass is deadly as hell. He is better than Stroud and may be the best since Burrow. He is highly intelligent and has one helluva work ethic. His mechanics are sound and he throws to spots accurately and effectively

I saw something with Tom Brady recently talking about Randy Moss and he said after they acquired him he trained all offseason (already in his 30's) to add 7 more yards to his deep ball. If Mendoza can match that level of committment and work ethic he can likely address any weaknesses also. Contrast to someone like Carr who was content to go into every season with the exact same skillset he had the year before

Raidernation1979 wrote: Thu Jan 15, 2026 12:00 pm I’m curious, what are the weaker parts of his game?

In his game specifically, there’s not a lot to pick on - he had some reps where he gets flustered by the passrush and can get a little lost in the pocket. Beyond that, nothing major.

His offence creates a lot of unknowns though. This is common for a lot of college QBs and Mendoza is no exception. Specifically, he ran almost exclusively out of the gun in an offence that spammed RPOs. He really heavily favours the sideline - you won’t find much tape of him targeting the intermediate center of the field. He’s not what you’d consider a high volume passer, averaging about 23-24 attempts per game. There hasn’t been a ton of games where he was under consistent pressure.

Again that’s not to say he can’t do these things - but there’s a reasonably significant element of his evaluation that is going to be based on projecting attributes rather than actual tape.

All that said, I think he’s an incredible prospect.