NFL Draft opens in Pittsburgh, Raiders select Fernando Mendoza No. 1

The 2026 NFL Draft opened in Pittsburgh with the Las Vegas Raiders using the No. 1 pick on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a move that signaled how aggressively clubs are now valuing high-end passing talent. Pittsburgh is hosting the 91st draft for the first time since 1948, with 257 picks scheduled over seven rounds at Point State Park and Acrisure Stadium.

Mendoza arrived with one of the strongest résumés in recent draft memory. He won the Heisman Trophy, the Walter Camp Award, the Davey O'Brien Award and the Maxwell Award, and he was a consensus first-team AP All-American after leading Indiana to a 16-0 season and a College Football Playoff national championship. He led the FBS with 41 passing touchdowns, threw for 3,535 yards and finished with a 41-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

The selection also reflected the premium teams continue to place on quarterback certainty in a salary-cap league that punishes mistakes at the position. The Raiders had not won a postseason game since the 2002 season and had reached the playoffs only twice in their previous 23 campaigns, a record that made the No. 1 choice as much a franchise reset as a draft pick. Mendoza also became the first player since Cam Newton and Joe Burrow to win the Heisman and a national title before being taken No. 1 overall in the common draft era.

The first round moved more quickly than usual, with the clock shortened from 10 minutes to eight minutes, the first timing change since 2008. That compressed pace underscored how much value clubs place on decisive movement early in Round 1, especially at premium positions where the margin for delay can mean losing a quarterback to a rival. NFL.com reported pre-draft trade interest around the top 10, including the New Orleans Saints at No. 8 and the Kansas City Chiefs at No. 9, a reminder that the market for difference-making players remains active even before a selection is made.

The draft is being carried live on NFL Network, NFL+, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. Friday’s second and third rounds and Saturday’s final four rounds will complete a process that continues to show where the league believes value now lives: in quarterbacks who can drive modern passing games, change a roster’s timeline and justify the cost of building around them.