HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders are expected to keep the first pick and take quarterback Fernando Mendoza during the 2026 NFL draft, but that hasn’t stopped teams from calling general manager John Spytek about the possibility of trading the top choice.
“We’ve gotten a few calls, and those teams know where they stand,” Spytek stated at Tuesday’s predraft news conference.
Spytek has always been open-minded about trade offers. He mentioned that good ones can materialize on draft night if a team waits a few moments before making a selection.
But if team leaders are convinced about a player, he stated, they will maintain their draft spot.
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“If there’s a player that stands out that we feel it’s not worth losing, it’s not worth even picking up the phone, then we’ll just make the pick,” Spytek stated. “But if it’s a player that we’re not as excited about, or there’s a group of players that we would love to pick from, and we can get value for that, we’re certainly open to listening to that.”
Mendoza is expected to become the 30th quarterback selected No. 1 in the common draft era (since 1967). It would be the fourth straight year a quarterback is picked first, tied for the second-longest streak in the common draft era.
If Mendoza is drafted by the Raiders, he will be in a quarterback competition with newly signed veteran Kirk Cousins and Aidan O’Connell. Spytek and coach Klint Kubiak prefer that a rookie quarterback play behind an experienced veteran.
They understand, however, that the best player must play.
“Ultimately, this is a meritocracy, and the best guy will play,” Spytek stated. “It’s just really hard to play really well at a young age. But we’ve seen plenty of quarterbacks do it recently. We added Kirk, we have Aidan, and we’ll see how it goes.”
The previous six quarterbacks drafted No. 1 — Cam Ward, Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow and Kyler Murray — started in Week 1 of their rookie season. The last one who didn’t was Baker Mayfield in 2018. For Spytek, patience is a necessity when dealing with a young quarterback, even though he understands that can be challenging to show in this league.
“It’s a hard position to play, and there’s a lot to learn beyond throwing [a] football and being a good teammate,” Spytek stated. “A lot of these guys live their entire life in shotgun [formation]. They don’t huddle. You really got to teach some of these guys how to run a huddle, how to break a huddle, how to get under center and call a cadence.”
He added: “We all understand there’s not a ton of patience in the job that we chose here, but if you can find some level of patience and put people in positions when they’re ready, that’s the best way forward.”
