Raiders' Fernando Mendoza still hasn't signed his contract

Raiders’ Fernando Mendoza still hasn’t signed his contract originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Fernando Mendoza still hasn’t signed his rookie NFL contract with the Las Vegas Raiders.

It’s not necessarily a big issue yet, but it’s notable because almost all of the 2026 draft picks have already signed.

In fact, it’s down to single digits among the players who aren’t signed.

Ironically, that includes the first four QBs taken in the draft: Mendoza, Ty Simpson, Carson Beck and Drew Allar.

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It’s a bit odd, only because these days, there’s so little that can actually be altered about these rookie contracts. They’ve got a lot of set language and dollar figures determined by the league.

“There’s not much to negotiate,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote on Monday. “The dollars are set by a formula based on the draft slot. Pressure points in the past have related to signing bonus cash flow, voiding of guarantees, and offsets on guarantees.”

Mendoza has participated in offseason activities with the Raiders as they try to determine whether it’ll be him or Kirk Cousins as their starting QB in Week 1.

He’s also repped the Raiders when given the chance, like his “Go Raiders!” as part of his ESPYs acceptance speech.

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There really shouldn’t be any concern in Vegas about this. It’s just a bit odd at this point that Mendoza hasn’t actually signed his deal.

“Surely, all of the deals will get done,” Florio writes. “Rookie holdouts are now very rare. But no deal is done until it’s done. And it’s getting a little glaring for the first four quarterbacks taken in the draft.”

Maybe they’re just trying to set up the perfect photoshoot for Mendoza’s contract signing to create some good social media content.

Whatever the reason, there’s nothing to fear, but it’d still be nice for Raiders fans to see this actually get done.

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