After making an amazing NFL preseason debut with the Las Vegas Raiders, Fernando Mendoza has been dubbed a “Tom Brady clone.”
When the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner faced the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday nite, everyone’s attention were on him. Everyone in the NFL was eager to see how the Raiders’ first-overall draft selection would perform in front of an audience.
Additionally, Mendoza scored his first touchdown as a Raider during his unofficial NFL debut. Tom Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback and minority owner of the Raiders, kept a close eye on him.
His efforts are statistically insignificant until the regular season starts, but his composure during his four drives demonstrated great potential. Although it finished with a pretty straightforward slant ball to second-year receiver Jack Bech for a touchdown, Mendoza’s earlier play on the second drive thrilled the crowd.
The Indiana quarterback effectively put his first drive’s incompletions—which resulted in a punt—in the past. Mendoza threads the needle with a precise 19-yard ball to Malik Benson in the first play following a Cardinals touchdown.
Social media erupted in favor for the former Hoosiers icon after that and his touchdown pass.
