🔥 HOT NEWS: The Fernando Mendoza Pick Feels Obvious, but the Silence Around One Option Is Alarming ⚡.DH

For the Las Vegas Raiders, the offseason has been about clarity. Find the head coach. Secure the quarterback. Start over—properly this time.

With the head coaching decision nearing completion and Fernando Mendoza widely viewed as the inevitable No. 1 overall pick, the path appears straightforward. Almost too straightforward.

Because before the Raiders turn in that draft card, there’s one unavoidable step left: listening.

NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah believes the Raiders will receive serious interest for the No. 1 pick, even in what’s considered a one-quarterback draft.

Teams know how rare it is to control the board completely. And desperation has a way of making phones ring louder than expected.

Las Vegas knows this. They just haven’t acknowledged it publicly.

The Raiders need a quarterback—badly. They’re 21–47 since 2022, and instability under center has been the defining theme of that collapse. Mendoza represents hope, alignment, and a clean start. From a football perspective, the logic is airtight.

From a roster-building perspective, it’s complicated.

This team doesn’t have just one hole. It has several. And no quarterback, no matter how gifted, fixes that alone. That’s what makes the No. 1 pick so powerful—and so dangerous.

Jeremiah noted that the New York Jets are among the teams expected to make a strong push. With multiple first-round picks and the No. 2 overall selection, they’re uniquely positioned to make an offer that forces uncomfortable conversations.

“The buzz down here amongst all the teams is that there is no chance the Raiders would trade off that pick,” Jeremiah said. “They seem to be pretty in love with Fernando Mendoza.”

That word—love—is doing a lot of work.

Because love can blind as easily as it can clarify.

Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic echoed the expectation that the Jets will call, while also expressing skepticism that a deal gets done. He described an all-out offer—“the kitchen sink and everything, and your mother”—yet still framed a trade as unlikely.

Unlikely doesn’t mean impossible.

And that’s where the real decision lives.

Drafting Mendoza is the easy move. The clean move. The move fans understand immediately. Passing on a historic haul of picks, if it materializes, is harder to explain—but sometimes smarter.

The Raiders owe it to themselves to evaluate both futures honestly.

One future is Mendoza. A franchise quarterback. A new face. A timeline reset around one player.

The other is depth. Multiple first-rounders. Cap flexibility. The chance to build an actual foundation instead of placing pressure on a rookie to save everything at once.

This isn’t an argument against Mendoza. It’s an argument against certainty.

The front office doesn’t have to trade the pick. But it has to take the call. It has to hear the offer. It has to understand what it’s turning down before committing fully to what it’s choosing.

Because once that pick is used, the leverage disappears forever.

The irony is that being “in love” with Mendoza shouldn’t prevent this process—it should demand it. If he’s truly the guy, then he’ll still be the guy after the conversation ends.

The danger isn’t in listening.

The danger is assuming there’s nothing worth hearing.