In his first preseason game with the Las Vegas Raiders after being drafted, Maxx Crosby broke his hand. But he taped it up and kept playing. When the regular season arrived, he played three forgettable games on a rotation and then made a statement the moment his number was actually called. For someone who was a fourth-round pick, Crosby had nothing to count on but his skills. But according to the elite DE, the grind will be the same for Fernando Mendoza, who comes in as the No. 1 overall pick.

“You’re a young guy, you gotta earn that respect from the locker room,” the DE said on The Rush podcast, about what the rookie needs to do first thing. “That’s by the work you put in and by your actions. So, just being early in the building, being late to leave, being consistent, being the same guy every single day, and just being yourself.”

“Just come in and just be himself, that’s what I told him. Just be yourself. Come in and do what you do. It’s a whole another game coming to the NFL, it’s the highest level. There’s no other level higher. You have to realize that you’re there for a reason. You can’t let that be intimidating. …I’ve seen it break a lot of people. A lot of people leave, or give up right before it happens, and end up tricking their own opportunity off.”

For Mendoza, that road isn’t unfamiliar either. He began his journey as a two-star player at California, and came to Indiana at his last season, trying to do the best for his draft stock. But what he did at Bloomington scripted history for the city. Mendoza finished the year with a 16-0 record, a Heisman Trophy, a national championship, and became the first overall pick. In his last season, he completed 72% of his passes for 3,535 yards, threw 41 touchdowns against just 6 interceptions, and became only the 18th player to win the Heisman and a national championship in the same year. That journey hasn’t gone unnoticed by Maxx Crosby.

“Look at what it’s done for his life,” he added. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Then, Crosby drew a direct parallel to himself. Through his first three weeks as a pro, he was rotating in and out on roughly 20 snaps a game. Week 3 against the Minnesota Vikings was “one of the worst games” he ever played. That sowed doubts in his mind about his place in the NFL. He chose to attack practice the next week anyway. That decision paid a big dividend in Week 4.

About half an hour before kickoff against the Indianapolis Colts, his D-Line coach walked in and told him that their third-down rusher, Benson Mayowa, was down. Crosby was the next man up, and he played every defensive snap. The next week against the Chicago Bears, Crosby got his first career sack. He never came off the field again.

“If I didn’t prepare, if I didn’t go into that week with the same mindset of ‘get better, and not get down and be negative on myself,’” Crosby recalled. “I just kept moving forward. If I would have done it the opposite way and felt bad for myself and took the foot off the gas, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today.”

If there was one player who could truly sit back and enjoy the offseason before the draft, it was Fernando Mendoza. After his incredible 2025 showing, being No. 1 overall in the draft was a lock for him from the get-go. But that was then; now that he is officially a Raider, he’ll have to start from scratch. And he’d better put in the work that’s expected of him, because of how celebrated he already is in the league. It’s a tough situation for a rookie, but it’s these pressure-cooker situations that make someone a hero in the NFL.

Mendoza, for his part, arrived at the Intermountain Health Performance Center in Henderson looking like someone who’d been listening.

Fernando Mendoza is already following Crosby’s blueprint

Mendoza was given a reality check on his very first day at the Raiders facility. Former Raiders receiver James Jones, who met the quarterback in the Raiders’ broadcast studio, turned to Mendoza and told him flat out: “This is your team dog. Whether you like it or not right now, this is your team walking into the building.”

But Mendoza wouldn’t take the compliment. He said even though he seems “very humble, and pretty fuzzy and warm,” that wasn’t the case.

“If you ask my teammates … I wasn’t always a nice guy, I was an a-hole sometimes because I wanted everyone to do their one-eleventh, everyone to do their job, hold everyone to a high standard,” Mendoza said. “However, coming into a new organization, starting from the bottom of the totem pole, I believe that leadership is earned, not given.” He reminded this to everyone who came up to give him a compliment.

Mendoza also acknowledged the kind of privilege he had entering the draft, reckoning himself to be someone like Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers. It’s great that he isn’t shying away from reality, because despite his age and experience, that’s the league that everyone thinks the rookie will eventually be part of. And he won’t get there easily.

But Mendoza is someone who never settles for the bare minimum. In college, Indiana registered a close win over Penn State, thanks to an absolute attack of a drive from the QB. It had done its job, but Mendoza was found on the bench crying. He was apologizing to his teammates for playing poorly before that drive, and it was the only drive on which he had scored that night. Pat Coogan, his center last year, said that Mendoza was “ridiculous” for thinking like that.

That is the kind of attitude Crosby expects from the QB. He’s young, but he will soon have to lead a group of players who are much older than him towards things that the Raiders have not seen for a long time now. But at the same time, if there is anyone who can do it, it is Fernando Mendoza.