Daniel Jeremiah Reveals Where He'd Rank Mendoza Against Caleb Williams, Maye, Recent NFL Draft QBs

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza seems like a safe bet to the top overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft for the Las Vegas Raiders.

But NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah doesn't have a higher grade on him than some of the other recent first-round quarterbacks. As SI.com's Albert Breer wrote, Jeremiah ranked him fourth out of the first-round quarterbacks from 2022-26 behind the 2024 trio of Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye. Draft analyst Todd McShay, meanwhile, had him fifth behind those three and 2025 top overall pick Cam Ward.

Jeremiah offered the following scouting report on Mendoza.

"Physically and mentally tough, that's the first thing you notice—he hangs in there and doesn't get rattled," he said. "He has poise to go along with that. He's got quick hands. You'll see with that, with all the RPO stuff they do. Obviously, the size, 6' 4" and 225 pounds, was from the spring. So that's all good. And then the challenge that you got to into is that there are so many RPOs that you have to find the other stuff. So I went through and, you watch all the 3rd-and-7-plus throws, you watch all the red-zone throws, all the late-game stuff, and he's really, really good in those scenarios. So good decisions, accurate, can drive the ball, all the stuff that you need. He can do all that stuff."

McShay added that the 2025 Heisman winner and national champion has "a chance to be a good starter in the NFL" and perhaps even a "top-10 starter in the league" if he ends up in the right situation, though he noted that he hasn't "talked to a single person who thinks [he's elite]. And this is the conversation: He can be a guy, but I don't have him as one of the guys."