\u201c1. *TRADE* LOS ANGELES RAMS<\/a> (VIA NYG): QB FERNANDO MENDOZA, INDIANA<\/strong><\/p>\n I have yet to do a mock draft with trades, but now that we\u2019re into December, it\u2019s hard to believe the New York Giants<\/a>\u2019 best plan for the 2026 NFL Draft involves staying at No. 1 overall \u2014 not with Fernando Mendoza playing like a quarterback who could command that spot from a team desperate for help under center. The Rams got a gift last year when they traded back with Atlanta and picked up a future first that now sits in the top 10, and there may be no better use of it than going all-in to secure their quarterback of the future. They\u2019d likely need to part with at least their two first-round picks to move up to No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rams need a quarterback of the future and maybe Mendoza can be that guy.<\/p>\n Fernando Mendoza starred at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Florida. During his career there, he passed for 1,396 yards and 16 touchdowns while rushing for 137 yards and a score. He originally committed to play college football at Yale University before choosing<\/a> the University of California, Berkeley.<\/sup><\/p>\n Mendoza would play two seasons at Cal. In 2024, he\u00a0was the third-leading passer in the ACC with 3,004 passing yards and accounted for 18 total touchdowns. He led the Bears to six wins and a bowl game in their first season as a member of the ACC conference.<\/p>\n Mendoza had several memorable performances in 2024. He threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-14 road win at Auburn. Plus, he had 285 passing yards and two scores in the Bears\u2019 39-38 loss to then-No. 8 Miami. In addition, he led a comeback and a 98-yard winning touchdown drive for a 24-21 victory over Stanford in his final game with the Bears.<\/p>\n Mendoza transferred to Indiana before the 2025 season, replacing Kurtis Rourke<\/a>. This year, has thrown for 2,980 yards and 33 touchdowns while rushing for six scores.<\/p>\n Fernando Mendoza took home<\/a> the Davey O\u2019Brien Award and is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. In addition, he led an unbeaten and top-ranked Indiana to its first Big Ten championship since 1967 and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n Unlike teams like the New York Jets<\/a> and Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, the Rams aren’t in desperate need of a quarterback right now. They\u2019re led by Matthew Stafford<\/a>, who\u2019s one of the league\u2019s top signal-callers. The two-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champ is perhaps the frontrunner for MVP this season.<\/p>\n Stafford leads the NFL in passing touchdowns with 35 and is fourth in passing yards (3,354). But at 37 years old (38 in February), he certainly isn’t the youngest player in the league.<\/p>\n With that said, the Rams need to find a potential replacement for Stafford. Trading up for Fernando Mendoza makes sense. He possesses arm strength, a high football IQ, and the ability to make accurate throws while under pressure. That sounds like the perfect quarterback of the future.<\/p>\n Main Image: Matthew O’Haren – Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Rams mock draft has the team trading up to the No. 1 overall pick and landing Indiana Hoosiers star quarterback Fernando Mendoza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":254749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,36],"tags":[33710,7473,404],"class_list":["post-258699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rams","category-nfl-news","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-los-angeles-rams-news","tag-matthew-stafford"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258699"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258759,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258699\/revisions\/258759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Rams Mock Draft Has the Team Landing Indiana Quarterback Fernando Mendoza<\/h2>\n
Mendoza\u2019s Career<\/h3>\n
Does Mendoza Make Sense for the Rams?<\/h3>\n
![\"Rams](\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/12\/Rams-vs.-Cardinals-Week-17-300x200.jpg\")