John Spytek and Klint Kubiak did their best to keep it a secret and act like every option was open. But the efforts of Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes weren't needed to get to the bottom of who the Las Vegas Raiders would select to begin the 2026 NFL Draft. It was never anyone but Fernando Mendoza.
Just how long they've been sold on the young player, though, is a fair question to ask and something that Raider Nation is quite interested in. Las Vegas' brass clearly did their due diligence, watching him play countless times and taking every chance for a "touch point" with him in the pre-draft process.
And even though the cat is now out of the bag and Mendoza is trotting around Raiders HQ with The Shield pinned on his chest and Silver and Black attire, Spytek wouldn't give fans anything better than the nugget that it happened sometime between the end of the college season and before Thursday.
But Klint Kubiak provided a concrete answer.
Klint Kubiak was sold on new Las Vegas Raiders QB Fernando Mendoza after his Pro Day
During at the team facility in Las Vegas, the young quarterback was joined by both Spytek and Kubiak. When the Raiders' new head coach was asked about the moment he knew Mendoza was "the guy," Kubiak gave an honest answer.
“When we went to the Pro Day and got to see Fernando throw live. And the way he ran that Pro Day — bossing his teammates around, told them what route they were running, and how accurately he threw the ball," Kubiak revealed. "Obviously, his stature. And then took him upstairs and talked football with him, listened to him communicate the game, and how quickly he picked things up. Really liked how he played the game on film, but seeing him in person was really helpful. It allowed us to watch film on a lot of other guys. We knew we had the guy.”
Conviction is everything in professional football. These resources are finite, and you don't get redos. But the process that the Las Vegas front office took apparently left them feeling fully decided on Mendoza almost a month ago, which is a big advantage for the rest of the draft.
With the peace of mind about what they were going to do with the No. 1 pick, the Raiders' scouting department probably took an even deeper dive into Round 2 and beyond, giving Las Vegas a leg up on every other team, which was still waiting to figure out how the first day would even shake out.
Raider Nation was convinced that Mendoza was the guy for quite a bit longer than just this past month, but it wasn't their decision to make. The fanbase's livelihood wasn't on the line if a metaphorical skeleton was found in Mendoza's closet, but the front office's was.
It should make fans of the Silver and Black thrilled to know that, despite a heavy vetting process, Mendoza passed the test. He already proved it on the field, in the locker room and in meetings. But they rifled through his personal life as well and found nothing that concerned them at all.
Spytek may like playing things a bit closer to the vest, but Kubiak has no quarrels about declaring exactly when he knew Mendoza was the guy. For someone who took the job in February, two months isn't all that long a time for Mendoza to convince Kubiak to have no reservations. But he did.