Mendoza impresses at Indiana pro day as all 32 teams watch
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- Fernando Mendoza held a pro day at Indiana with all 32 NFL teams sending scouts and more than 100 media members credentialed, throwing roughly 56 passes in the John Mellencamp Pavilion and targeting receivers on short, medium, and deep routes
- Mendoza appears to have already convinced the Las Vegas Raiders to select him No. 1 overall, having met with the team twice (once at the combine, once via videoconference) with one additional meeting scheduled before Las Vegas goes on the clock April 23
- Mendoza arrived at 236 pounds — 11 pounds heavier than his listed playing weight — a visible effort to prepare for the NFL's bigger, faster pass rushers
- Mendoza's 2025 stat line of 72% completions, 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns, and six interceptions powered Indiana to its first outright Big Ten title since 1945 and the program's first-ever national football championship
- Mendoza skipped all on-field workouts at February's NFL scouting combine and participated only in the throwing session Wednesday, acknowledging he still needs to adjust to more under-center snaps and the NFL's condensed hash marks and faster pace
- Tom Brady — Raiders minority owner and Mendoza's childhood idol — attended January's Indiana-Miami national championship game with majority owner Mark Davis and GM John Spytek, and the Boston-born Mendoza called Las Vegas "a perfect fit"
Why it matters: The Raiders appear to have their franchise quarterback locked in three weeks before the draft, with Mendoza using the pro day partly as a platform to boost his ex-teammates' draft stock rather than just his own. That every NFL team showed up underscores how unusual this is: Indiana's first credible No. 1 pick candidate, fresh off the program's first national title.
