serby says Steve Serby The Fernando Mendoza Era is here — and Omar Cooper Jr. knows just how high the ‘ultimate competitor’ can fly By Steve Serby Published Nov. 14, 2026, 11:52 a.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results.
Make New York Post a Preferred Source Fernando Mendoza of the Las Vegas Raiders warms up prior to a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on November 8, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. Getty Images They wrapped him in the kind of cocoon that is the envy of too many other failed would-be franchise quarterbacks who wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Fernando Mendoza was a diligent sponge under Kirk Cousins. He has a minority owner named Tom Brady and a creative offensive head coach in Klint Kubiak to help nurture and develop him. The Raiders didn’t throw him to the wolves.
“I think they handled it perfectly,” Mel Kiper Jr. told Serby Says.
