Ryan McFaddenApr 14, 2026, 07:52 PM ET
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HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders are expected to keep the first overall pick and take quarterback Fernando Mendoza during the 2026 NFL draft, but that hasn’t stopped teams from calling general manager John Spytek about the possibility of trading for the top draft choice.
“We’ve gotten a few calls, and those teams know where they stand,” Spytek said at Tuesday’s pre-draft news conference.
Spytek has always been open-minded about trade offers. He mentioned that good ones can materialize on draft night if a team waits a few moments before making a selection.
But if they are convinced about a player, he said, they will maintain their draft spot.
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“If there’s a player that stands out that we feel it’s not worth losing, it’s not worth even picking up the phone, then we’ll just make the pick,” Spytek said. “But if it’s a player that we’re not as excited about, or there’s a group of players that we would love to pick from, and we can get value for that, and we’re certainly open to listening to that.”
Mendoza is expected to become the 30th quarterback selected No. 1 overall in the common draft era (since 1967). It would be the fourth straight year a quarterback is selected 1st overall, tied for the second-longest streak in the common draft era.
If Mendoza is drafted by the Raiders, he will be in a quarterback competition with newly signed veteran Kirk Cousins and Aiden O’Connell. Spytek and head coach Klint Kubiak prefer a rookie quarterback to play behind an experienced veteran.
At the end of the day, they understand that the best player must play.
“Ultimately, this is a meritocracy, and the best guy will play,” Spytek said. “It’s just really hard to play really well at a young age. But we’ve seen plenty of quarterbacks do it recently. We added Kirk, we have Aiden and we’ll see how it goes.”
The previous six quarterbacks drafted No. 1 overall — Cam Ward, Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow and Kyler Murray — started in Week 1 of their rookie season. The last one who didn’t was Baker Mayfield in 2018. For Spytek, patience is a necessity when dealing with a young quarterback, even though he understands that it can be challenging in this league.
“It’s a hard position to play, and there’s a lot to learn beyond throwing football and being a good teammate,” Spytek said. “A lot of these guys live their entire life in shotgun [formation]. They don’t huddle. You really got to teach some of these guys how to run a huddle, how to break a huddle, how to get under center and call a cadence.”
He added: “We all understand there’s not a ton of patience in the job that we chose here, but if you can find some level of patience and put people in positions when they’re ready, that’s the best way forward.”
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