The Raiders hold the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft and are widely expected to select Fernando Mendoza. But the competition is already forming, and none of the circling franchises is more visible than the Jets. Even Mendoza has caught wind of the Jets’ interest, and his reaction said plenty.

“I told future No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza that I wished he’d be drafted by the Jets. Mendoza smiled and said, ‘We’ll see what happens!'” Mad Dog Sports Radio host Jake Asman reported on February 26.

The Jets, under first-year general manager Darren Mougey, have made no secret of their admiration for the 22-year-old signal-caller. The franchise has been locked in on Fernando Mendoza for months.​

“The Jets’ scouts are paying a lot of attention to Mendoza; general manager Darren Mougey has watched him play in person at least once,” ESPN’s Rich Cimini reported in November.

Right now, the Jets hold the No. 2 and No. 16 overall picks in the draft. But simply sitting at two may not be enough.

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ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller has already projected the Jets trading up to the No. 1 spot to secure Mendoza. 

For the Jets, finding a franchise quarterback is essential.

The franchise has cycled through six starting quarterbacks over the past decade without finding a long-term answer at the position. Each offseason brings a new promise, and each season ends in the same frustration.

The most recent chapter was no different.

Justin Fields started nine games last season and compiled a 2-7 record. Due to his dismal performance, head coach Aaron Glenn benched him in favor of Tyrod Taylor ahead of Week 12. Although it didn’t matter.

The Jets stumbled to just three wins on the season.

That urgency is exactly why Fernando Mendoza’s name keeps coming up in New York.

Last season, the Indiana Hoosiers quarterback led his team to a perfect 16-0 record, claimed the Big Ten Championship, captured the Heisman Trophy, and capped it all off by steering Indiana to its first-ever national championship.

For a Jets franchise starving for a difference-maker under center, Mendoza looks like everything they’ve been searching for.

However, getting to him is a different story.

The Raiders are an obstacle. But fresh developments out of the Combine in Indianapolis have added a new wrinkle to Las Vegas’s quarterback room that changes the calculus entirely.

Klint Kubiak opens up on the Raiders’ quarterback plans for 2026

The Raiders’ offseason kicked off with head coach Klint Kubiak at the center of it all. At the combine, Kubiak addressed the franchise’s quarterback situation directly.

Despite Las Vegas finishing 3-14 last season with Geno Smith going 2-13 as a starter, the new head coach isn’t ready to write Smith off just yet.

“(We’re) looking at all options right now,” Kubiak told reporters. “Watching Geno play last year, (I’m) obviously pretty familiar with what he had done before; putting all on the table right now, trying to see every possible avenue we can go next year at quarterback, and he’s definitely one of those options.”

​Smith, who arrived from Seattle last season, finished the year with 302 completions on 448 attempts, 3,025 passing yards, and 19 touchdowns. But it was his league-high 17 interceptions and 55 sacks that raised major red flags. 

Still, Kubiak believes the veteran could serve an important purpose.

He could help as a stabilizing presence for a rookie quarterback learning the ropes, almost certainly Fernando Mendoza. Raiders GM John Spytek echoed that thinking plainly at the combine.

“To think that you’re just going to take a young quarterback anywhere, starting him Week 1, and you want it to go great is naive,” Spytek noted.

“You’re not doing that kid any favors at all. Probably more organizations fail those kids than those kids fail the organizations.”

Beyond the quarterback conversation, the Raiders are thinking bigger picture.

Kubiak has made clear that Las Vegas intends to invest across the roster. The new head coach wants to build a complete team around whoever is under center, and the combine has given him the platform to lay that vision out publicly.