It's NFL draft season. Have you read enough mock drafts yet? They're like multivitamins this time of year -- you need your daily dose.
The mock I have for you today is different, though. Instead of focusing on a round or a team, I'm focusing on a position: quarterback. I tried to find the ideal landing spot for every single draftable quarterback in this 2026 class across all seven rounds -- within the constraints of realism, of course. And I attempted to find a happy medium between scheme/system fit, team need and total draft capital, and I was mindful of both short- and long-term team-building horizons.
It's very unlikely that I'll get more than one pick exactly correct (thank you, Fernando Mendoza), but the exercise is less about precision and more about investigation. What do teams value in QB2s? What does development as a backup actually look like in the NFL? It isn't a particularly dense quarterback class, so I have nine names for you. These are the quarterbacks I expect to be drafted and where I'd handpick them to be selected. And I even included one trade up the board to land one of them.
Jump to: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Round 1, No. 1: Las Vegas Raiders
Fernando Mendoza, Indiana
Height: 6-5 | Weight: 236 | Scouts Inc. ranking: QB1 2025 stats: 72.0% completion rate, 3,535 yards, 41 TDs, 6 INTs (7 rushing TDs)
Mendoza will be the first pick for the Raiders, so there's little use talking through the exact dominoes that got him there. But when it comes to fit, there is a question.
New Las Vegas coach Klint Kubiak heavily relies on under-center alignment in his offenses, as evidenced by Sam Darnold's 171 under-center dropbacks last season in Seattle. It's not just the volume; it's also the value: Darnold averaged 10.8 yards per attempt from under center, which was second to only Lamar Jackson.
Mendoza had two dropbacks from under center this past season with Indiana and three the previous year with Cal -- it's simply not something he has done in college. But I believe the issue is dramatically overblown. It's 2026, and we've been discussing under-center dropbacks for more than a decade of NFL draft coverage. I remember sitting in my college dorm room and manufacturing concern when Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes and Mitchell Trubisky combined for three shared under-center dropbacks in the 2017 draft class.