FOUNDATION: Are the Raiders Setting Fernando Mendoza Up to SINK or SWIM Right Out of the Gate?

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4.6 • 966 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Las Vegas Raiders gamble their future on Fernando Mendoza as the 2026 NFL Draft’s top pick — but is the rookie QB set up for success? Kyle Crabs and his co-host break down the strengths and risks surrounding the franchise’s new direction, from Klint Kubiak’s first year as head coach to a revamped quarterback room headlined by Kirk Cousins. The Raiders’ coaching chemistry, offensive line uncertainty, and the dynamic tight end duo of Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer all come under the microscope. Key talking points include the underwhelming wide receiver corps, Ashton Genti’s role as the lead back, and whether the run-heavy approach can truly support a rookie signal-caller. The conversation covers recent draft strategies, free agent options like Jauan Jennings, and major questions about the Raiders’ defensive front despite Maxx Crosby’s dominance. Will this risky roster construction accelerate Mendoza’s growth, or leave Las Vegas in NFL limbo?

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Raiders made Fernando Mendoza the number one pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
0:06.6	How are they set up around him?
0:09.6	We're exploring that today on the Locked on NFL scouting podcast.
0:18.1	You are locked on NFL scouting with the draft dudes, your daily podcast for NFL and college football scouting.
0:26.9	Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.
0:32.9	What's better than this?
0:34.6	It's guys being dudes.
0:37.0	I'm Joe Marino.
0:38.2	That's Kyle Crabs.
0:39.7	On today's episode, we are exploring the situation in Vegas around number one overall pick.
0:47.9	Fernando Mendoza.
0:50.1	Kyle, we've been doing doing this for a while.
0:52.3	I'm excited to apply it to the 2026 QB class.
0:56.4	Yeah, it's been going back to 2021. So this is year five of doing this exercise. Draft
1:07.2	dudes do math, a little dangerous, but early in in the morning but i think i got that right
1:12.0	and um it's been really neat to see what what players end up outperforming expectations
1:21.2	uh we have these two quarterbacks from this year that we'll be stacking in with the first
1:27.0	round guys the two quarterbacks from uh year that we'll be stacking in with the first round guys,
1:27.6	the two quarterbacks from last year were in the bottom third of the situations that we've
1:35.2	done and the Giants picked five and the Titans picked four.
1:41.6	So it was another year where the situation kind of played through with the performance
1:48.9	for the team on the field, regardless of how good Cam Ward or Jackson Darketer didn't
	...

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