2026 NFL Draft: Raiders select QB Fernando Mendoza with first pick as Jets take David Bailey

The 2026 NFL Draft has begun in Pittsburgh with the Las Vegas Raiders selecting Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick. The New York Jets followed by choosing Texas Tech linebacker David Bailey with the second pick.

"The last five months have been such a blessing…now I step into a great game, the NFL and look forward to improving every day," Mendoza told ESPN TV.

With the first pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders select… …Heisman Trophy winner, national champion and now no1 pick, Fernando Mendoza, quarterback, Indiana.

Mendoza is a big-bodied, tough, accurate quarterback. He has the size of Carson Palmer with wheels that remind you of Daniel Jones: enough athleticism to stumble for first downs but not a five-alarm fire in the open field. As a passer, he wins with pre-snap recognition and accuracy. He doesn’t have a cannon for an arm, but he can make all the throws. The knock on his game is the system he played in at Indiana – one drenched in RPOs – and his lack of quickness in the pocket. Mendoza can be a little robotic when navigating against pressure in the backfield. It will take some time for him to develop in a full-field, NFL offense, but he has the tools and intellect to be an upper-tier starter in the league. He will probably fall somewhere on the continuum between Matt Ryan and Kirk Cousins.

The New York Jets are on the clock! The Jets nab David Bailey, the linebacker from Texas Tech. He should help the Jets do SOMETHING on defense after they regressed significantly last season, which is really saying something even for the Jets. Bailey had 14.5 sacks for Tech last year. Bailey is the most explosive pass-rusher in the draft. He is all about burst off the ball and flatten to the quarterback. Think Denver's Nik Bonitto. Speed-only pass-rushers have a dodgy history in the NFL; the bust rate is higher than that of players who rely on power. And Bailey's outlook is no different. Right now, he's a zero against the run, which could cap his ceiling. At times in college, he wasn't an every-down player but was used as a pass-rush specialist. Still, he has the league's most valuable commodity: unteachable hops. But he will need to develop as a run defender to become an every-down presence.

The draft returns to Pittsburgh for the first time since 1948. That was the last time the NFL held its draft in Pittsburgh. A bunch of cigar smoking, whiskey swilling men gathered at the old Fort Pitt Hotel in December of 1947 to select the future NFL booms and busts.

The main difference this year is that the time between first-round selections has been shortened from 10 minutes to eight minutes. It's the first timing adjustment since 2008, when draft windows dropped from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.

Pittsburgh is expected to draw 500,000-700,000 fans over the three day event, with a 12,000 square foot fan village in Point State Park and a draft theater inside the Acrisure Stadium parking lot.