Fernando Mendoza watched the 2026 NFL Draft from his home in Miami. He skipped the trip to Pittsburgh because he’d have to go to Vegas anyway, and the trip would take a toll on his mother. The Las Vegas Raiders’ future franchise quarterback is applying the same logic to his bank account as well.

Mendoza has been turning down endorsement deals since arriving in Las Vegas. On Fox Sports Radio’s Covino & Rich, analyst Rich Davis appreciated the commitment behind Mendoza’s decision, but didn’t think the math adds up because of the six figures Mendoza was leaving on the table.

“I like his future, because I think he’s a respectful, great dude with a lot of talent,” Davis said on the show. “But it’s also presumptuous for him to be so quite sure that he’ll be around in some years from now.”

“Some of these deals – I’m not saying he’s going to get some LeBron [James], Steph Curry deal where you’re making $30 to $100 million a year, but regional stars and big stars could make anywhere from $500,000 to $5 million for a simple local or regional ad campaign,” Davis added.

By Davis’ own assessment, Mendoza is a “very hot commodity” in the league – the latest Heisman winner, No. 1 overall Draft pick coming off a historic 2025 season and a national championship – but that doesn’t last forever. If Mendoza doesn’t start for the Raiders in his rookie season, the market might move on to the next big commodity by the time he’s ready. If he starts and his rookie season fails, the brands currently knocking on his door walk away. Mendoza knows the window is open, but he’s choosing to spend it getting better rather than cashing in on it.

The show’s executive producer, Danny G, put it in Raiders terms. He pointed to a franchise that has spent decades cycling through high draft picks who stopped producing and veterans collecting their final paychecks. A No. 1 overall pick who actually wants to be there, and isn’t looking for a payday on the side, is genuinely new.

“To have a guy like this suddenly on the team – not just on the team, but the leader of the team now is like, ‘You know what, I’m going to concentrate and focus on the team,’” Danny said. “That is awesome because that’s something that they’ve been missing with the Raiders organization.”

Fernando Mendoza isn’t walking away from everything, though. On June 8, Mendoza filed a trademark application for “Nandolorian” – a Star Wars inspired nickname that grew out of a joke between him and Kick Cousins of the Raiders’ schedule release video this offseason. The trademark will cover clothing merchandise if it goes through. This might also be heading for a legal fight with Disney and Lucasfilm, who hold 16 trademarks tied to The Mandalorian.

There’s a clear line Mendoza has drawn a lot this offseason: anything that pulls him physically away from the Raiders’ facility is off the table. He called President Donald Trump personally to explain he couldn’t attend Indiana’s national championship White House celebration in May because of the Raiders’ offseason training program. At the NFLPA Rookie Premiere, he said he’d much rather be practicing with his new teammates.

Mendoza’s locked in. But as we inch closer to the 2026 regular season, the question is whether the Raiders are rewarding that focus or still testing him.

The Raiders aren’t handing him anything yet

After being drafted No. 1 overall, Mendoza called himself an “underdog” and said that he’s “on the bottom of the totem pole.” Since then, he has put the work in through the rookie minicamps, the OTAs, and the mandatory minicamps, which concluded on June 11th. After a month inside head coach Klint Kubiak’s system, Mendoza sees big improvements.

“I feel like I’ve been growing every day, from the first day of the OTAs, then today at minicamp,” Mendoza said on Tuesday, June 9th. “I feel like I’m leaps and bounds ahead of where I was.”

Coach Kubiak heard that, and when asked about it, delivered a cold reality check for his quarterback.

“You better be getting better every day in this league, or you’re gonna get passed up. I hope that would be his answer, and we’ll find out if he was right or not come the fall,” Kubiak said.

Kubiak’s West Coast offense depends highly on play-actions and wide zone run schemes. Mendoza, on the contrary, has played out the shotgun and run RPOs throughout his college career. To close that gap, Mendoza has leaned heavily into developing himself under center, and there’s a lot of work to be done on that.

So when Mendoza skips the endorsements, he’s being honest about his own limits. He doesn’t want to spread himself thin in year 1 and risk his starting role in the future. He’s learning the ropes behind Kirk Cousins and Aidan O’Connell, and has spent the minicamps working with the second and third teams. He will eventually be their starter for sure, and having no distractions in his rookie year might just become the greatest decision for the Raiders down the line.