Fernando Mendoza could not be convinced to attend the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. Not even when one of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks tried.
Mendoza is expected to be the No. 1 pick when the Las Vegas Raiders make their selection to begin the first round of the draft on Thursday, April 23. But he decided weeks ago he won’t make the customary walk on stage to put on his team hat, shake hands with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and hold up his new jersey for the cameras. Instead, the Heisman Trophy winner who led Indiana to its first national championship in football will watch from home in Miami with friends and family.
Advertisement
Peyton Manning revealed this week he was enlisted by the NFL to speak with Mendoza in an effort to encourage him to come to downtown Pittsburgh to be in attendance with the rest of the top NFL draft prospects for the league’s biggest offseason gathering.
RELATED: Fernando Mendoza will go No. 1 in NFL Draft. But he’s not Indiana’s first top pick.
“I’ll be honest, the NFL kind of reached out to me,” Manning told reporters Wednesday at a “Night of Champions” event celebrating the 2015 Denver Broncos, according to a video posted on social media by a Denver Post reporter “I reached out to Mendoza to maybe encourage him to go to the draft and he was staying home with his family, which will be fine.”
Mendoza has drawn some comparisons to Manning in the lead up to Thursday’s NFL draft, most recently from ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. Mendoza has a relationship with Manning dating back at least to when he served as a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy in 2024 while still playing for the University of California. Mendoza said after receiving the Manning Award in February the Manning family were among the people he has sought advice and insight from since then.
Advertisement
Manning said his point to Mendoza was that he could enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime experience of being the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft and celebrate with his family. Manning noted how he attended the draft in New York when the Indianapolis Colts picked him No. 1 overall in 1998, flew to Indianapolis the next day for a news conference and then went to Knoxville, Tennessee to be with his friends and extended family.
“That was my message to Fernando. You can do both,” Manning said on Wednesday. “You can go to the draft and have a good party down in Miami.”
But Mendoza told The Rick Eisen Show earlier this week that he preferred to go through the NFL draft at home to lessen the amount of travel given his “family situation” and involve more people from his upbringing in the celebration. Mendoza’s mother lives with multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, and the family plans to come with Mendoza to Las Vegas after draft night.
Advertisement
“My mom really wanted to do it at home and my parents, it’s a lot easier for us, especially with the family situation and we have to hop on a plane the next morning anyways. And for that travel, it’d be a lot easier to stay at home,” Mendoza said. “I wanted to stay and make the memory with everybody who poured into my football journey. Mentors, coaches, family, friends, being able to share that moment with all of them is going to be the best memory I can make, rather than limit it to 10 or 12 people in Pittsburgh.
“I think it’s very important to start this journey with everyone who has gotten me to this point,” he added.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Peyton Manning couldn’t convince Jordan Mendoza to attend NFL draft
Read the full article here
