{"id":259992,"date":"2025-12-22T10:47:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=259992"},"modified":"2025-12-22T10:47:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:47:53","slug":"fernando-mendoza-linked-to-the-miami-dolphins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/12\/22\/fernando-mendoza-linked-to-the-miami-dolphins\/","title":{"rendered":"College Superstar Quarterback Linked to the Miami Dolphins"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’ll be interesting to see where Fernando Mendoza ends up. He\u2019ll likely go to a team like the Las Vegas Raiders or New York Jets. But what about the Miami Dolphins?<\/p>\n

James Trefry<\/a> of Dolphins Wire listed Mendoza as an early candidate to be the team\u2019s starting quarterback in 2026:<\/p>\n

\u201cFernando Mendoza (Indiana Hoosiers)<\/strong><\/p>\n

For now, Mendoza is the consensus top quarterback expected to be available in the 2026 NFL draft. Depending on where the Dolphins will be selecting, there’s a good chance they’d have to trade up to land Mendoza if he’s the player they want. There are a few quarterback-needy teams, like the Jets<\/a> and Raiders<\/a>, that currently have a worse record than Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dolphins need a young franchise quarterback to build around, and Mendoza might be that guy.<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza Linked to the Miami Dolphins<\/h2>\n

Spotlighting His Career<\/h3>\n

Fernando Mendoza attended 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 was the third-leading passer in the ACC with 3,004 passing yards. He also accounted for 18 total touchdowns. In addition, he led the Bears to six wins and a bowl game in their first season as members of the ACC.<\/p>\n

Fernando 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, Mendoza 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 this season, replacing Kurtis Rourke<\/a>. He has put together a spectacular 2025, throwing for 2,980 yards and 33 touchdowns while rushing for six scores.<\/p>\n

Mendoza was named<\/a> the Associated Press Player of the Year and won the Heisman Trophy. He also 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

Tua\u2019s Replacement?<\/h3>\n
\"Dolphins
Nov 9, 2025; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) rolls out during the first half against the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa<\/a> has struggled mightily this season, throwing a league-leading 15 interceptions. After the Pittsburgh Steelers eliminated the Dolphins from playoff contention in Week 15, Tagovailoa was benched<\/a> in favor of rookie Quinn Ewers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Miami will probably move on from Tagovailoa in 2026. Ewers, who was a seventh-round pick, could develop into a solid player, but he likely isn’t the long-term answer.<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza could certainly be the answer. The Dolphins currently hold the 10th<\/a> overall pick. That means they’d have to trade up to land Mendoza as Trefry alluded to.<\/p>\n

It’s unclear, though, what the Dolphins would have to give up in a trade. They should consider such a deal. Fernando Mendoza is a great pocket passer who rarely makes mistakes with the football. Plus, he possesses the intelligence, maturity, and dual-threat ability to be a franchise quarterback in South Beach.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Matthew O’Haren – Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indiana\u2019s Fernando Mendoza was listed as an early candidate to be the Miami Dolphins’ starting quarterback in 2026.<\/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":[6431,4],"tags":[33710,7777,4443],"class_list":["post-259992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-teams","category-dolphins","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-miami-dolphins-news","tag-tua-tagovailoa"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259992","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=259992"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260079,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259992\/revisions\/260079"}],"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=259992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}