Fernando Mendoza will have a major adjustment to Klint Kubiak’s offensive scheme that he rarely ever did at Indiana
The Raiders still love Mendoza.
The Las Vegas Raiders are going to be drafting Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza No. 1 overall in a few weeks. That’s certain, no matter what chatter you hear over the next few weeks about Ty Simpson actually being better than Mendoza. The Hoosier is their guy.
However, that’s not to say Mendoza will be perfect, and especially not in his rookie year. There will be bumps along the way and learning moments, too. In fact, his first year could be difficult. He’s going to be the No. 1 pick with a ton of pressure, on a team that frankly doesn’t have an identity yet, and no real foundation to lean on. They were the worst team in football a year ago. On top of that, he’s going to be operating an offense that’s not even close to the one he operated in college. But, he will be ready.
Mendoza may or may not need an adjustment period to the new NFL offense
“Fernando really didn’t play a lot under center, and Klint Kubiak is heavy under-center play-action,” former NFL QB Chase Daniel said. “So I think that’s going to be the tell in how well he progresses. And this is a very important time for Fernando to go out there, train, and understand what you can do shotgun. We know that Fernando loves RPOs. We know that’s just sort of college offenses. The one thing I love about this, though, is how insanely smart Fernando Mendoza is because that offense… That offense is no joke. You have multiple kills.
“You have multiple run progressions. You have multiple pass progressions. So when Fernando was there with Klint Kubiak, I don’t think they’re going to have any mental hurdles. That’s the number one. I think the physical will catch up. No, this is the full offense that they’re gonna run.”
Kubiak’s offense is complex, but in a way, it’s not any more complex than what Mendoza ran in college. He ran an offense with a lot of RPOs, triggers, progressions, and everything that Daniel mentioned. He’s smart, so he won’t have as big a learning curve as the normal rookie QB would have. The differences in offenses he learned at Cal and at Indiana have prepared him for that, so he should adapt well, despite going under center in college for only 3% of last season’s snaps.
There’s a reason why Mendoza is going to be the No. 1 overall pick. Yes, he can spin it with the best of them, but at times, so can guys like Ty Simpson. The intangibles are the big reason why Mendoza is so highly coveted. He will show that with the adjustment he makes. And, it helps that he’s already learning the offense, of course, in a way that’s completely legal, per NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah. Not to mention, he will now have Kirk Cousins as his veteran QB.
