The NFL draft typically produces first-rounds quarterback who entered his remaining school season flying beneath the radar. The man who wasn’t the five-star recruit, final 12 months’s starter, or energy program arm who soaks up all of the headlines. A 12 months in the past, the main target was on Georgia’s Carson Beck as an alternative of Miami (FL)’s Cam Ward. In 2020, when Jake Fromm had all of the preseason hype, Joe Burrow went from afterthought to No. 1 choose in a 12-month span . The 2026 NFL draft may break the identical means and in CBS Sports activities’ newest mock draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers fortunately profit.
Within the website’s too-early mock draft, the Steelers choose Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza with the 14th total choose of the 2026 draft.
“His arm expertise actually shone,” mentioned analyst Mike Renner of Mendoza. “For a Pittsburgh Steelers staff that performs in an out of doors division, Mendoza is the right kind of quarterback to suit into that offense.”
In a world the place Pittsburgh is unable to select within the top-five, a “late-riser” like Mendoza is the right state of affairs to nonetheless supply a possible franchise quarterback. Transferring from Cal to Indiana for 2025, his numbers at first blush don’t pop. Final 12 months, he threw solely 16 touchdowns throughout 11 video games for a Golden Bears staff who did not even crack .500. Blame a poor roster, not Mendoza, for that.
“It was the worst I noticed of any quarterback once I went by way of summer season scouting,” Renner mentioned of Cal’s porous offensive line. “It was mainly, if he hit his again foot and the ball wasn’t out, he was getting hit on that play. His offensive line was not going to offer him a second, third learn.”
Cal quarterbacks had been sacked 50 instances a 12 months in the past, tied with Oklahoma for the FBS’ worst mark. That’s regardless of the Golden Bears ending solely forty first in passing makes an attempt, removed from probably the most throw-happy offense on this planet. Mendoza merely lacked time within the pocket, hurting his numbers and the staff. Nonetheless, he managed to throw for over 3,000 yards and full virtually 70-percent of his passes. Now, he’ll play for offensive guru Curt Cignetti and a rising Hoosiers’ program.
If chosen within the first spherical, Mendoza would change into the third Cal quarterback taken within the prime 32 since 2005. Jared Goff went No. 1 in 2016 whereas Aaron Rodgers, the Steelers’ 2025 starter, fell to the Inexperienced Bay Packers in 2005. In 2003, Kyle Boller went nineteenth to the Baltimore Ravens.
If not Mendoza, our Jonathan Heitritter famous different darkhorse candidates to be within the 2026 operating: Arkansas’ Taylor Inexperienced, Iowa’s Mark Gronowski, and Oklahoma’s John Mateer all made his record.
Within the CBS mock, two quarterbacks went forward of the Steelers’ picks. The New Orleans Saints chosen LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier No. 1 total, and the Indianapolis Colts took Penn State’s Drew Allar at No. 8. Two quarterbacks went after Mendoza. The Los Angeles Rams nabbed Clemson’s Cade Klubnik at No. 27 whereas the New York Jets, in a mock commerce with the Philadelphia Eagles, chosen South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers at No. 32. That made for 5 quarterbacks taken within the first spherical.
