It's no surprise that many quarterbacks selected No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft fail to live up to the high expectations that come along with their draft slot.
With rare exceptions, the team making that selection got there by earning the league's worst record the season before, which typically gives the young quarterback a dismal supporting cast to work with as they try to adjust to the NFL game and develop their own skills. Teams have become increasingly impatient with their highly drafted passers in recent years, often throwing them into the fire immediately as starters, just to watch them flame out while surrounded by a lackluster roster.
The Las Vegas Raiders appear to be doing everything they can to ensure that Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza avoids that fate.
After an incredible 2025 campaign that included a Heisman Trophy and an undefeated season that scored the Hoosiers their first national title in program history, Mendoza is expected to be the Raiders' selection with this year's No. 1 overall pick.
Loaded with available salary cap space, Raiders general manager John Spytek went to work quickly Monday as the NFL's negotiating window for free agents opened up, agreeing a fully of high-profile deals to restock the cupboard on both sides of the ball:
The Raiders reset the market at the center position (by a mile) to score Linderbaum, widely regarded as the premier name on the market this year, giving Mendoza one of the league's best players at a critical spot for a young quarterback.
They added an underrated target in wide receiver Jalen Nailor to team up with a young pass-catching crew that includes Brock Bowers, Tre Tucker and Jack Bech, among others.
On the other side of the ball, Spytek and company made sure to bolster the defense in hopes of keeping Mendoza from having to put up a ton of points on a weekly basis. They reunited a pair of former Georgia Bulldogs at linebacker, signing two of the top targets on the market in Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean, kept a pair of their own in pass rusher Malcolm Koonce and cornerback Eric Stokes, and traded for one of the league's better slot defenders in Taron Johnson.
Losing one of the league's best pass rushers in Maxx Crosby certainly won't help the Raiders' chances of winning right away, but that trade did net them a pair of first-round picks, giving them two first-rounders in each of the next two drafts. That includes the No. 14 overall pick this year, with which they should be able to land another instant-impact player to help Mendoza hit the ground running. That should be a prime spot to add another top offensive lineman like Penn State's Olaivavega Ioane (this year's top guard prospect), or a top offensive tackle like Utah's Spencer Fano, Georgia's Monroe Freeling, Alabama's Kadyn Proctor, or Utah's Caleb Lomu.
At the moment, the Raiders are heading into the 2026 draft with 11 total picks, seven of them in the first four rounds. With two more first-round picks in 2027, they'll be able to add another pair of blue-chip talents without having to worry about the most important position on the field.
NFL history is littered with cautionary tales of teams who "won free agency" by spending a bunch of money on players who never delivered on their massive paydays, so we'll obviously have to wait and see what the on-field product looks like this fall and beyond. But if the mission was to do everything possible to try and build a winner in advance of Mendoza's arrival in Las Vegas, the Raiders can certainly check that box.
