Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Fernando Mendoza is doing his best to avoid the casinos in Las Vegas during his first season with the Raiders
- The Heisman winner is focused on acclimating to Las Vegas’ heat and his new team during his rookie NFL season
- Mendoza is serving as backup to veteran Kirk Cousins while adjusting to the fast-paced demands of NFL life
Fernando Mendoza is feeling haunted by the Las Vegas Strip in his new home city.
The rookie quarterback admitted on Thursday, Aug. 13 that he hasn’t ventured to Las Vegas’ main drag very often since he was selected first overall by the Las Vegas Raiders at the 2026 NFL Draft this April and moving out to Sin City.
“I’ve been there once or twice, but I haven’t really experienced the Strip,” Mendoza, 22, told The Athletic during a lunch break at the Raiders’ training facility. “It’s like a boogeyman. A lot of people talk about The Strip like, ‘You don’t want to go there.’ ”
Credit: Ian Maule/Getty
“It’s like when you’re a kid; you’re trick-or-treating, and there’s the haunted house. You’re not trying to go over there,” the rookie quarterback added.
Further, Mendoza — who led the Indiana Hoosiers to an undefeated 2025 season, winning the program’s first-ever Heisman Trophy, a Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff National Championship — is focused on his performance first and foremost.
“The system that got me here, it’s a grinder system,” he told the outlet. “It’s a system where I know I put a lot into it, and best-case [scenario], boom, it’s letting me have success already.”
Credit: Justin Casterline/Getty
“And let’s say worst-worst-worst-case scenario, it doesn’t go my way, or it doesn’t go the team’s way,” he continued. “Then I can rest my head at night knowing I did everything I possibly [could] … I best served my teammates, I prepared, and I didn’t let them down.”
In late July, Mendoza caught up with PEOPLE exclusively about his training camp so far and what he’s looking forward to most about his rookie year, where he will serve as backup to NFL veteran Kirk Cousins.
“It’s very dry over here,” the Miami native said of the Vegas area since his move. “But other than the dry and the heat, it’s been something that I’ve been able to become accommodated to.”
Credit: David Becker/Getty
“And that is why I spent a lot of the off season in Vegas to make sure that I’m in tip-top shape come training camp,” he said. “To make sure I’m acclimated with the heat, with the weather, and most importantly, with the playbook and my teammates as well.”
Mendoza, who said he received a piece of “wisdom” from seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, who’s a minority owner of the Raiders, has quickly learned that there’s no easing into life as an NFL rookie.
Follow your favorite athletes on and off the field with PEOPLE’s free sports newsletter — sign up now!
“I think the challenge of being a rookie is once you get here, you hit the ground running,” the rookie told PEOPLE.
“The vets have around a month, a month and a half before it’s like the playbook and then you kind of just get thrown in the fire at practices,” he continued, adding, “Which is great because then you have positive stress and you’re able to have growing pains.”
Read the original article on People