ESPN says Raiders' best pick of 2026 NFL Draft wasn't Fernando Mendoza originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Las Vegas Raiders hope they picked their franchise quarterback with the first overall selection in the 2026 NFL Draft.
But at least by one measure, Fernando Mendoza wasn't their "best pick" of the draft.
When you think about it, that makes some sense. Mendoza was supposed to be their choice, and besides, it wasn't really a "value" selection, because he didn't pass by any other teams before they chose him.
So with that in mind, ESPN draft expert Matt Miller writes that the Raiders' best pick was actually Jermod McCoy, the cornerback from Tennessee who they traded up to get at No. 101 overall, the first pick of the fourth round.
MORE: Diego Pavia, Shedeur Sanders and an NFL QB problem that goes back to Tim Tebow
Miller actually ranks the McCoy pick as the second-best choice in the entire draft, behind only the Dallas Cowboys getting Ohio State safety Caleb Downs with the 11th pick.
McCoy was an All-American in 2024 before a knee injury forced him to miss the entire 2025 season.
"There's always a really good player who slips due to injury," Miller writes. "Ranked as my No. 10 overall prospect, McCoy fell to No. 101 based on concerns that a surgical procedure he had done following a January 2025 ACL tear might need to be redone. But McCoy was cleared to work out at Tennessee's pro day and excelled with a 40-yard dash time of 4.38 seconds. Las Vegas aggressively attacked its secondary needs, but getting McCoy here could be the weekend's biggest steal if he's healthy. It was a smart bet to make and shows that general manager John Spytek is correctly thinking about risk, value and potential."
There's always a chance McCoy isn't actually healthy. But the fact that he ran his 40-yard dash so quickly at his Pro Day shows that he's probably just fine.
Injuries happen in football, but by the time McCoy made it through three rounds without getting picked, he was more than worth any risk there might still be. The Raiders were happy to bring him aboard.
From Falcons to Cardinals, Tyler Allgeier can't catch a break