At the NFLPA Rookie Premiere on USC’s practice fields in Los Angeles, Fernando Mendoza broke away from the content tents and sponsor gauntlet to spend some invaluable time with legendary quarterback Tom Brady and renowned rapper/singer Travis Scott. What started as a simple brunch ended with a notepad full of life advice for the Las Vegas Raiders’ young quarterback.

“It was a private brunch, lunch, there were a lot of great lessons about leadership, playing, accountability, business,” Mendoza told Sports Illustrated in an interview. “It was all over the place, but the one consistent variable was that it was quality information, and it’s information that I wrote down on a notepad. I’ll be able to digest it when I read it back tonight and for the future.”

The brunch came in the middle of a three-day Rookie Premiere built around branding and business, where the NFLPA had rookies shooting content with partners like Fanatics, Topps, and EA Sports, and then sitting down with Brady and Scott to hear how they built careers beyond the field.

Mendoza was part of a 41-player group that got jersey reveals, photo shoots, and a closed-door session with a 7x Super Bowl champ who also happens to be the Raiders’ minority owner. When asked whether he’d share his notes, Mendoza happily obliged.

“I don’t know about taking it all for myself,” Mendoza added. “I always want to share, but the one biggest thing that I thought was awesome was when Tom talked about leadership and the two variables that you need to be a great leader. One, care about your teammates, and second, care about the team’s goals. It’s not about being a Pro Bowler, being a star player. It’s about caring about your teammates, who they are, and caring about winning, and the team’s ultimate goal, which is to win a championship.”

Now, Brady has already delivered versions of this talk to young QBs before, including a long sit-down with Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis after the 2023 draft. Mendoza is now stepping into that same conversation about what sustains a career at the quarterback position in the NFL.

That same formula was on display again in 2024, when Brady gathered the top 6 first-round picks along with the popular rapper Jay-Z at Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin’s house for breakfast.

“The biggest problem I see with a lot of the young players today, you guys are making it too much about I and me,” Brady had said back then. “Because of social media, because of branding and all that. It’s fine… you’re not going to win.”

Inside the Raiders’ building, that same tension between hype and work is already on Fernando Mendoza’s plate. Veterans like Maxx Crosby have told him he needs to earn the locker room’s respect by showing up and putting in the work. Mendoza himself has said he’s at the “bottom of the totem pole” as a No. 1 pick and still has to prove it. But the way the coaches and teammates describe him so far suggests that he’s already living up to Brady’s words.

Fernando Mendoza is making strides with the Raiders

The Raiders have had a full month and the rookie minicamp to see their first-overall pick in action. Even with veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins getting the first team reps, head coach Klint Kubiak feels Mendoza has been exactly “as advertised.” That description already lines up with what Brady laid out at brunch.

“[He has] not disappointed,” Kubiak said after the OTAs on May 20th. “He’ s working his tail off. It’s very important to him that he asks a lot of great questions when he gets on the field. He’s no B.S.; he’s all ball.”

Offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko, meanwhile, has gone further on how Mendoza is handling the install, calling him a “blank slate” in this system who keeps pressing for the “why” behind every single call, and forcing the staff to re-examine parts of the offense they hadn’t questioned in years.

“He’s somebody who wants to know the whys of everything, the story behind everything. What we’re calling, but why are we calling it?” Janocko said. “He’s really just a sponge that wants to know everything. So it’s a lot of fun working with a quarterback like that because he’s coming in as a blank slate in this offense – never been in this offense before – and just asking a ton of questions.”

Maxx Crosby, who broke in as a mid-round pick in 2019, played through a broken hand to stick in the league. Because he always kept training, he was ready when his number was called. On his The Rush podcast in April, he laid out a similar standard for Mendoza.

“You’re a young guy, you gotta earn that respect from the locker room,” Crosby said after the Draft. “That’s by the work you put in and by your actions. SO, just being early in the building, being late to leave, and being consistent, being the same guy every single day, and just being yourself.”

The brunch with Tom Brady and Travis Scott left Mendoza with a lot to think about. His veterans on the roster have also laid out their blueprints for his success. And the early feedback from his coaches suggests the best of Fernando Mendoza is already figuring out ways to match the bar.