Is Fernando Mendoza the Next Tom Brady?

Fernando Mendoza NFL Debut: Is He Really the Next Tom Brady

Let's slow our roll on the comparisons that people are making on Las Vegas Raiders quarterback, Fernando Mendoza. He started his first NFL snaps in the preseason, of course against the Arizona Cardinals on August 13 and he had a pretty good showing. We saw him go 10 of 17 for 97 yards and a touchdown. These may not be game breaking stats to you but at the end of the day they showed that he can operate an offense and lead a scoring drive, which is always good to see on a player's first NFL snaps.

There were people online saying: "he looks just like Tom Brady" "if he sits behind Kirk Cousins, this kid might be Brady."

While these are just fans, it's important to debunk anything that is completely false but is catching steam.

Fernando Mendoza in the NFL Preseason

Now let's break down exactly how his snaps went. The first drive was very vanilla with definitely some jittery feet in the pocket but he made a couple nice routine throws to the boundary on 8 to 12 yard outs, and the drive ended in a punt. The second drive was the one that was extremely exciting to see, as there was multiple instances of him going through his progressions from the left to right and hitting a deep in route to gain about 15-20 yards.

One little thing that stood out was on running back Mike Washington Jr''s phenomenal 47 yard rush, Mendoza over exaggerated the action which allowed for his team to get an extra half step as the defenders were keeping their eyes in the backfield in case of the action. The rest of the drive once again was very vanilla and it's a credit to head coach Clint Kubiak because he made life very easy on his quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

They ended up scoring a touchdown on third and goal and it was a simple one step slant to wide receivers and this is where Fernando Mendoza got his first true NFL touchdown. People are comparing him immediately to Tom Brady because of the connection that Brady has in Las Vegas, but that is clearly number one, not right and number two, not fair to Fernando Mendoza to be compared to the greatest quarterback of all time.

Fernando Mendoza's NFL Comparison