PITTSBURGH — Make no mistake, the Raiders’ NFL draft will essentially be made or broken by Fernando Mendoza , the Indiana Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback whom the Raiders selected with the first overall pick .

No matter what they did over their next nine picks, and it ranged from adding a Day 1-caliber starting safety in Arizona’s Treydan Stukes, a high-upside edge rusher in Auburn’s Keyron Crawford and a potential home run in Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy — a top-15 talent who fell to the fourth round because of concerns about his surgically repaired right knee — the Raiders will be judged by Mendoza, who is tasked with being the franchise-altering quarterback they have been seeking for decades.

New Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza started the franchise’s good fortune in the 2026 NFL Draft.…