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Fernando Mendoza has been leading two lives of late. One life is the reigning National Championship QB and number one overall pick in the NFL draft and the future of the Raiders franchise. The other is that of the actual third string quarterback on the Raiders roster.
The former side of his life can be seen constantly when he's away from the Raiders facility. Including just this past weekend when he appeared on the jumbotron at the Golden Knights game.
Mendoza is carries with him the hopes of a franchise and the city that it calls home. And as the number one overall pick in the draft, he is a big name across the NFL as well.
Then he steps back into reality.
That happens when he enters the Raiders building where not only does he have NFL veteran Kirk Cousins as the leader of the QB room and projected starter, Mendoza lines up with the third team in practice, behind Cousins and Aidan O'Connell.
Following Tuesday's practice I asked him about how he balances that juxtaposition. And as you might expect, he had a well-worded response that suggests his head is in the right place.
"There is fanfare, and there is excitement, and I just try to do that by controlling the controllables, because expectations are all in the future tense, and if I just focus on the present tense, I know that I will be able to get there one day in the future," Mendoza said. "But worrying about the future is not going to do me any good right now. So I'm just trying to work every single day, and right now I'm repping with the threes and a little bit with the twos. So, right now I'm just trying to prove myself and do the best in whatever rep I get, and treat every single rep like it is a Super Bowl."
Even for Mendoza, who took college football by storm last season, running away with the Heisman and an undefeated season, the NFL learning curve is sharp. Not only is the level of competition vastly higher, but in the midst of it all, he is being asked to move from playing almost exclusively in shotgun formation, to almost exclusively under center.
If the season started tomorrow, he'd be nowhere near ready for it. Thankfully the season doesn't start tomorrow, so there's time for him to acclimate.
Mendoza's runway may lead well into the season if he needs it. Cousins is here to give him the time he needs, so he isn't thrown into the lion's den before he's properly armed.
But don't bother telling the rest of the NFL or the fans that. They love seeing him paraded around as the face of the Raiders and the next generation of NFL talent. Heck, just today I mentioned Kirk Cousins -- the projected starting QB of this team -- and his work in practice and had a fan literally say "I completely forgot that Kirk Cousins is a Raider."
That could probably be because of things like Time magazine recently naming Mendoza one of their 100 Most Influential People. They put him in the "Leaders" category. Mendoza responded to the honor, first by shifting focus to his teammates and coaches and then by yanking the narrative back to his current reality.
"Without [teammates and coaches] you're not on the list," Mendoza said. "So, it's all a trickle effect, and I'm happy that I'm back down on the bottom of the totem pole . . . it's good to start back from stage one, from level one, having to work my way back up and get a get a sense of industriousness to be successful at the next level."
The veterans will have two more days before they head for their six-week break. Mendoza and the rookies get about half that. They stick around for a couple more weeks and then return along with the other quarterbacks and select first year players about a week before the rest of the team.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders QB Fernando Mendoza juggling high expectations with uphill climb
Continue reading...
The former side of his life can be seen constantly when he's away from the Raiders facility. Including just this past weekend when he appeared on the jumbotron at the Golden Knights game.
Mendoza is carries with him the hopes of a franchise and the city that it calls home. And as the number one overall pick in the draft, he is a big name across the NFL as well.
Then he steps back into reality.
That happens when he enters the Raiders building where not only does he have NFL veteran Kirk Cousins as the leader of the QB room and projected starter, Mendoza lines up with the third team in practice, behind Cousins and Aidan O'Connell.
Following Tuesday's practice I asked him about how he balances that juxtaposition. And as you might expect, he had a well-worded response that suggests his head is in the right place.
"There is fanfare, and there is excitement, and I just try to do that by controlling the controllables, because expectations are all in the future tense, and if I just focus on the present tense, I know that I will be able to get there one day in the future," Mendoza said. "But worrying about the future is not going to do me any good right now. So I'm just trying to work every single day, and right now I'm repping with the threes and a little bit with the twos. So, right now I'm just trying to prove myself and do the best in whatever rep I get, and treat every single rep like it is a Super Bowl."
Even for Mendoza, who took college football by storm last season, running away with the Heisman and an undefeated season, the NFL learning curve is sharp. Not only is the level of competition vastly higher, but in the midst of it all, he is being asked to move from playing almost exclusively in shotgun formation, to almost exclusively under center.
If the season started tomorrow, he'd be nowhere near ready for it. Thankfully the season doesn't start tomorrow, so there's time for him to acclimate.
Mendoza's runway may lead well into the season if he needs it. Cousins is here to give him the time he needs, so he isn't thrown into the lion's den before he's properly armed.
But don't bother telling the rest of the NFL or the fans that. They love seeing him paraded around as the face of the Raiders and the next generation of NFL talent. Heck, just today I mentioned Kirk Cousins -- the projected starting QB of this team -- and his work in practice and had a fan literally say "I completely forgot that Kirk Cousins is a Raider."
That could probably be because of things like Time magazine recently naming Mendoza one of their 100 Most Influential People. They put him in the "Leaders" category. Mendoza responded to the honor, first by shifting focus to his teammates and coaches and then by yanking the narrative back to his current reality.
"Without [teammates and coaches] you're not on the list," Mendoza said. "So, it's all a trickle effect, and I'm happy that I'm back down on the bottom of the totem pole . . . it's good to start back from stage one, from level one, having to work my way back up and get a get a sense of industriousness to be successful at the next level."
The veterans will have two more days before they head for their six-week break. Mendoza and the rookies get about half that. They stick around for a couple more weeks and then return along with the other quarterbacks and select first year players about a week before the rest of the team.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders QB Fernando Mendoza juggling high expectations with uphill climb
Continue reading...
