Fernando Mendoza credits his faith in God after being selected No. 1 overall by the Raiders 63%
By Lillian Mann0%
4/24/2026, 1:53:48 PM
Topics: Football
BS Summary: This article contains 25 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Optimism Bias, and Confirmation Bias, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 15.4% saturation with 109 hits. Analysis detected 1,052 faulty-reasoning hits from 709 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 57.8% and a BS Rank of 63% (8,202 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 62.50% of the article peer group.
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, selected yesterday by the Las Vegas Raiders as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft, attends a news conference at the Las Vegas Raiders Headquarters/Intermountain Health Performance Center on April 24, 2026 in Henderson, Nevada.
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
OAN Staff Lillian Mann
8:53 PM – Friday, April 24, 2026
Right after being drafted first overall in the 2026 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders, Fernando Mendoza thanked God while surrounded by his friends and family.
After NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called his name on Thursday, Mendoza, 22, became visibly emotional as the life-changing moment marked the culmination of a long, hard-fought journey that began at Indiana and ultimately ended with him leading the team to a national championship.
Las Vegas calling.
📲 #ProIU | @Raiders pic.twitter.com/rZEs7JWqex
— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) April 24, 2026
Despite being projected as the No. 1 overall pick, Mendoza did not attend the in-person draft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, choosing instead to wait for the announcement alongside his mother, who is battling multiple sclerosis.
“I heard my mom say, ‘I’m so proud of you’ and that kind of broke me,” Mendoza said during a Zoom interview after being drafted.
“The last five months have been such a blessing by God, and I can’t thank him enough,” he added.
“What a great organization, great legacy.
There’s so many teammates I’m looking forward to talking to — coaches, owners.
I’m ecstatic for the opportunity,” Mendoza continued.
Mendoza’s underdog journey began as a two-star high school recruit out of Christopher Columbus High School, a path that took him to Cal Berkeley, where he spent two seasons as the starting quarterback before transferring to Indiana.
Despite a perfect 16–0 season capped by a national championship and a Heisman Trophy, Mendoza enters the NFL carrying the same chip on his shoulder he had as a No. 250 overall recruit out of Florida in 2022.
“I believe I’m still the underdog, although the draft was today…although I was picked today one out of 32 -I’m not one out of 32 quarterbacks at this moment.
So, I need to work every single day possible, because I’m on the bottom of the totem pole,” Mendoza shared.
“I’ve got to first earn the respect to my teammates, earn that equity, and I’ve also just got to immerse, and I’m just ready to do whatever the team needs and calls me to do to help them win,” he added.
Mendoza has already begun offseason training focused on mastering West Coast offensive concepts and getting familiar with head coach Klint Kubiak’s system with the Raiders.
“This scheme, it really allows the quarterback to be a point guard,” Mendoza said.
“I believe that my job – we have so many great playmakers, whether from the outside, tight end, running back or offensive line, I just need to get the ball to the playmakers and do my part of the offense and be my 1/11th.”
Mendoza is the Raiders’ first first-round quarterback selection since they drafted Louisiana State University’s (LSU) JaMarcus Russell in the 2007 NFL Draft.
By selecting Mendoza, the franchise is looking to turn the page on years of inconsistency and reestablish a more stable identity under center.
“Deep down, in my heart, I knew the Raiders are most likely going to be the best fit because of the coaching staff,” he said.
“I think it really fits my play-style great, with all the great teammates on offense and defense, they’re stacked.
… I think all the stars are aligning here, and this is a blessing, this position.”
“I’m just looking forward to get to work, prove it at the next level,” Mendoza told ESPN.
“College was fantastic.
I’m so blessed to have that career.
But now I step into a great game in the NFL.
Look forward to proving it and earning it every single day.”
Mendoza will compete with 15-year veteran Kirk Cousins and fourth-year player Aidan O’Connell for the Raiders’ starting quarterback position.
Stay informed!
Receive breaking news alerts directly to your inbox for free.
Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
What do YOU think?
Click here to jump to the comments!
Speakers
4speakers52%attributed speech339writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Selected voice
85%flagged-word coverageFernando Mendoza
354 attributed words96% of attributed speech71% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.