Pro Football Rumors
Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza is one of only two players selected in the first round of this year’s draft who has not yet signed his rookie deal. The second player is Ty Simpson, the only other signal-caller taken in the first round, and that is not necessarily a coincidence.
As former agent and current CBS analyst Joel Corry observes, the foundation of Mendoza’s contract is already set. At some point, he will put pen to paper on a four-year, $57.27MM deal with a fifth-year option and a $38.11MM signing bonus. As we have seen since the implementation of the rookie wage scale in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, however, the amount to be paid is largely a non-issue when it comes to negotiating rookie contracts. Rather, the timing of the signing bonus payout, offset language, and provisions regarding the voiding of guarantees can become sticking points.
Corry believes the signing bonus schedule is the holdup in Mendoza’s case. While signing bonuses generally are not paid out in a lump sum, No. 1 overall picks like Mendoza have become the exception to the rule (Kyler Murray, whom the Cardinals selected in 2019, was the last top pick who did not receive his bonus all at once).
Unsurprisingly, first-round quarterbacks have also started to get in on the action even if they were not the first player off the board. Corry points out that all six signal-callers who heard their name called on Day 1 in 2024 – including Bo Nix, who was taken at No. 12 overall as the final member of that sextet – landed their signing bonuses in a lump.
The Raiders have paid 77.5% of the signing bonuses due to their most recent first-rounders within 15 days of the date they signed their contracts. They then paid 12.5% in mid-September and the final 10% in mid-October.
That same schedule may not be acceptable to Mendoza, especially since the No. 2 overall pick of the 2025 draft, Travis Hunter (a non-quarterback), received a lump sum payout. 2025’s No. 1 pick, QB Cam Ward, received the entirety of his bonus within 30 days of inking his rookie contract.
A delayed payout may be even less palatable for Mendoza if Simpson does not have to contend with such a delay. Per Corry, Simpson is “probably” insisting the Rams extend him the same courtesy the 2024 cadre of first-round passers received (after all, Simpson was taken at No. 13 overall, one spot lower than Nix).
Corry says every club other than the Rams and Jaguars insist on offset language in their rookie contracts, so Simpson caught a break there. If Los Angeles gives Simpson a deal featuring no offsets and a lump sum signing bonus payment, it will become more difficult for Las Vegas to hold firm on their preferred installment plan (even though Mendoza’s bonus is over 2.5 times as large as Simpson’s).
Corry openly wonders whether Mendoza would consider some sort of holdout if the Raiders play hardball here. At...
