Patrick: Raiders should not draft Mendoza at No. 1
Dan Patrick lays down why the Las Vegas Raiders should not draft Fernando Mendoza No. 1 overall and should trade down instead because they do not have a team ready for a high-draft pick at quarterback.
Video Transcript
You know, if the Steelers want Ty Simpson, or they, you know, they wanna get somebody in the second or third round, okay.
But I understand what he's saying, because I'm going to apply this to the Raiders.
The Raiders have a bad team.
They have a terrible offensive line, one of the worst in the NFL.
Yes, they'll try to improve upon that in the off-season, but you're gonna draft Fernando Mendoza, number one.
And you're gonna ask him to go in there and be great, or be good, or very good, and it won't happen overnight.
It won't happen in that first year.
Now, you do have Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty, okay, but I don't have an offensive line.
And I always go back to Andrew Luck.
Andrew Luck was generational.
He was gonna be the next John Elway.
Can't miss.
Until you go to an organization that got him, but didn't improve their offensive line.
Until they did improve their offensive line, and Andrew Luck was done playing.
He was tired of being beat up.
I don't know if Fernando Mendoza's a great quarterback.
I think he's a great story, but I would... Once again.
I would not draft him number one if I'm the Raiders.
If I'm the Raiders, I say to the Arizona Cardinals, "Hey, you interested?"
Um, how about the Colts?
If you don't want Danny Dimes, or y- or maybe you do have Danny Dimes, you know.
Bring in Fernando Mendoza.
Keep him in Indianapolis.
But if I'm the Raiders, I need help.
Why can't I trade down?
How many GMs are fired or coaches fired because they passed on somebody?
Usually, you get fired because you went up and got somebody.
You know, you, you said, "We gotta go all in on Trey Lance," although nobody got fired with that.
Mitchell Trubisky: "We're gonna go up and get him."
If I'm the Raiders, I trade him.
I wanna see what's out.
There.
You don't have a coach yet.
I mean, that's a tough situation for this kid to go into.
He, uh, just officially declared for the NFL Draft, um.
And the Raiders, by all accounts, are going to take him.
But I would not.
Um, and it might be one of those where, Man, you passed up on a generational talent.
I don't think he's a generational talent.
I think he's a great kid to have as the face of your franchise.
And maybe you can build around him.
I mean, Indiana, let's not lose sight of this, Indiana had a great team.
Great team.
Balanced team.
Both sides of the ball.
His numbers weren't great, but he was great when he needed to be.
Is that enough to pin your hopes on that guy?
With your team in that town?
I wouldn't do it.
Yeah, Paulie.
And this really isn't about Mendoza or slighting Mendoza.
It's about the Raiders' situation.
Like you said.
Yeah...
The offensive line is terrible, and if you can get Arizona or other to overpay, Now you reset your team with all those draft picks, like Ben Roethlisberger's saying.
What's the, uh, draft order there?
You know, it's Vegas first, Jets second, Arizona Cardinals third.
All three need quarterbacks.
And the Jets can do something stupid.
Yeah.
Like, you could say to the Jets, You know, do you want Fernando Mendoza?
Because we're now looking at Sam Darnold saying, "Sam wasn't really the problem.
The Jets are the problem."
I mean, Sam Darnold played very high-level football last year.
I know what happened in the postseason, and here he is.
Maybe on the cusp of going to the Super Bowl.
Sam Darnold wasn't the problem.
But let's go back to that draft.
Sam Darnold was the safe pick.
That guy, "You know what?
Maybe you don't have a high high, but uh, you know, the floor is, you know, not low.
He, he's a good kid, makes the right decisions, comes from a big program.
Yeah, he's gonna help the Jets."
Well, you don't have a team around him.
It's not like Mark Sanchez when he went to the Jets.
The Jets, that was a good team.
Went to a couple of...
Uh, AFC title games.
But I'm bringing Fernando Mendoza in there?
This could be a situation that's similar to David Carr.
Derek Carr's brother, when he went to the Texans, and I thought David Carr was a really talented quarterback.
And I still feel like he's a really talented quarterback, but he went to a terrible team.
He got sacked more times than any other quarterback in history over the first three years, and he was done.
Now, he resurfaced elsewhere, but he was done.
He was not a franchise quarterback.
I don't wanna take away...
I don't wanna kick you in the shin as soon as you walk in.
Yeah, Keaton.
It does feel like you'd be asking Fernando Mendoza to do a hell of a lot.
Yes...
Right out of the gate.
Yes.
Um, and yeah, maybe shoring up a bunch of other positions for a year or two, and then bringing in a quarterback after that sense.
There's, there's, you know, lots of talent in the draft.
It might not all be quarterback talent, but there's certainly other sure things in there.
Well, that's just it.
You got Mendoza, who is the number one pick, But there...
It's not a deep draft when it comes to quarterbacks here.
I mean, if Arch Manning's available, Okay.
But even then, I wouldn't put Arch Manning in that situation with the Raiders.
And it could be generational.
You could get a generational talent.
I've just seen it too many times, where you reach for somebody.
Or you expect them to be great, and you throw 'em in there.
And then you go, "Hey, we got our franchise quarterback."
Oh, he's getting the hell beat out of him, but we got our franchise quarterback."
I wanna go in knowing the first thing I have is a good offensive line.
That's it.
I gotta have an offensive line, and if I don't, he's gonna get in bad habits, and that's not gonna benefit anybody.
But if I'm the Raiders, I know I'm on the clock, I would certainly...
I would be shopping that number one overall pick.
I would check with the Jets, I'd check with Arizona.
You just wanna get one, one team that overpays.
Or if you get two in a bidding war, Then you get a treasure trove here.
Now you got some draft picks, but it goes back to what I always say: you can have draft picks, Who is the one making those draft picks?
That's, that's an important part of this as Well.
"Look at what we got!"
Okay, but who's making the picks?
Uh, the guy who made these other picks that kinda put us in this position?
But Mendoza going in there, there's nothing he does that is electric, nothing that he does where you go, Well, you know what?
He can run like Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson.
He can get out of trouble."
He can't.
But we've seen him, you know, when he's in the pocket, and he, you know, is gonna be labeled as, uh, deceptively athletic.
But it's, it's not enough for me to go, I got my quarterbacking position...
I got it solved," because I don't.
I gotta get my offensive line solved.
And then... And I agree with what Ben Roethlisberger's saying.
Ben, you know, we've had Jerome Bettis on, and he said Ben was scared to death when he was in the huddle that first Super Bowl.
And that's with all that veteran talent.
Around him.
He had an unbelievable team with Pittsburgh.
But you're asking somebody to come in and play big-time football.
And you can't lean on, "Hey, I got a great team surrounding me," because you don't.
And that, that's what would concern me.
We tend to do it the other way around.
It's, "Get the quarterback, and then build around him."
I gotta build around him so when he comes in, it's a little bit softer landing.
And, you know, Vegas is not a soft landing at all.
Yes, Marvin?
And it doesn't help when you're gonna play the Chiefs, Chargers, and Broncos six times out of the year.
