Mendoza Signed, but the Defense Keeps Complicating Things

The good news landed on July 23: Fernando Mendoza signed his four-year, $57.27 million fully guaranteed rookie deal, closing the standoff I noted when camp opened without him. The offensive picture is now clean — Mendoza, Brock Bowers, Ashton Jeanty, and Tre Tucker are all active and available, which is about as healthy a skill-group situation as this franchise has had heading into a camp in years.

The defensive side is messier. Maxx Crosby is listed as Questionable, and Jermod McCoy — who was cleared to begin camp recovery after missing all of 2025 with a knee injury — has slipped back to Questionable as well. McCoy's setback is the more nagging of the two; the front office had already been exploring secondary options after his mid-month downgrade, and that search hasn't stopped.

The broader context matters here. Last year's Raiders defense was bad enough that coordinator Rob Leonard essentially had nothing to build on, and the team went 2-5 in one-score games — the specific failure mode that turned a bad season into a 3-14 one. Depth at corner and at the edge was part of why those games slipped away. Getting McCoy healthy and Crosby through camp without incident would help. Neither is guaranteed right now.

The next ten days are straightforward to track: does McCoy's status stabilize, and does Crosby get cleared? The offensive foundation is in place. Whether this rebuild has real defensive footing is still an open question.