Mendoza Still Unsigned as Raiders Camp Opens Without Their Top Pick

Fernando Mendoza is the only unsigned rookie left on Las Vegas's roster. Jermod McCoy agreed to terms on Wednesday, which cleared the board of everyone except the quarterback the Raiders took with the first overall pick. The holdout centers on the signing bonus, and with training camp underway, every day matters a little more than the one before it.

The broader context here is that the top four quarterbacks selected in this draft are all still working through their contracts, so Las Vegas isn't alone. But Mendoza's situation carries more weight than most. The Raiders went 3-14 last season and have positioned this draft class as foundational — multiple rookies are expected to compete for Week 1 starting jobs. A quarterback who isn't in the building yet isn't competing for anything.

Aidan O'Connell is on the depth chart behind Mendoza, and Geno Smith is still on the roster, so the Raiders aren't exactly short on warm bodies at the position. But the whole point of taking a quarterback first overall is to start building something. Missing camp reps doesn't ruin a prospect, but it doesn't help one either, and this franchise doesn't have margin to waste on delays it could have avoided.

Both sides will get this done. They always do at this pick. The question is just how much of July they're willing to burn through first.