Before the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement created a rookie wage scale with slotted contracts based on selection position, the first overall pick would often sign a contract before the draft even began.
Fast forward to 2026. Seven weeks and one day after round one happened, 30 of 32 players have signed contracts. The two unsigned first-round picks are the two quarterbacks: Fernando Mendoza (taken first overall) and Ty Simpson (13th).
There isn’t much to negotiate in these contracts. The biggest issues are cash flow (specifically, when will the full amount of the signing bonus be paid?), the mechanism for voiding guarantees, and whether the guarantees will have offset language.
It’s unclear why Mendoza and Simpson haven’t signed. Both could have forced the issue by refusing to participate in the offseason program until they had their contracts. (All draft picks should take that position, frankly.)
Both will likely sign before training camp opens. Holdouts have become rare. Still, no deal is done until it’s done. And it’s a bit glaring that all first-round picks have done their deals except for the two first-round quarterbacks.
Raiders Clips
Based on talent alone, former Tennessee Volunteers cornerback Jermod McCoy was viewed as one of the best players in the 2026 NFL draft. But he fell all the way from a potential Top 10 pick to the fourth round amid concerns that his injured knee might never fully heal. The Raiders, who selected McCoy with the 101st overall pick in the draft, expect him to be good to go for training camp.
McCoy missed the entire 2025 college football season after tearing an ACL while working out in the offseason, and a year later the Raiders are still taking it slow with him in Organized Team Activities. But Raiders coach Klint Kubiak thinks McCoy will be in fine shape for training camp.
“I expect him to practice. I expect him to be on the field. It’s going to be a moving target with him, but we drafted him for a reason, drafted him to play, so I expect him to compete in camp and get plenty of reps,” Kubiak said.
If McCoy can stay healthy, the Raiders got a steal by taking him in the fourth round. It’s been a long, slow recovery from his torn ACL, but there’s optimism that McCoy is going to be ready to go as a rookie.
Henry Ruggs III was denied parole on Thursday in a ruling by the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners, the Associated Press reports.
Ruggs, a Raiders first-round pick in the 2020 draft, pleaded guilty in May 2023 to felony DUI causing death and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter after crashing his car into another vehicle on Nov. 2, 2021. Ruggs was driving his car at speeds up to 156 mph.
Ruggs was sentenced in Aug. 2023 to a three-to-10-year prison sentence.
His next chance to go before the parole board will be three months before his Aug. 24, 2027 mandatory parole release date.
Ruggs played 20 games for the Raiders over his first two seasons. He was released by the club on the same day as the fatal crash.
It’s inevitable that at some point, Fernando Mendoza will take over as Las Vegas’ QB1.
But as the Raiders wrap up their offseason program, they are still intent on having Kirk Cousins begin the season as their starting quarterback.
In his Thursday press conference, head coach Klint Kubiak told reporters that Cousins — who is now another year removed from his Achilles tear — has been performing well during the offseason program.
“If you watch Kirk play his last four games in Atlanta, you saw what he can do,” Kubiak said. “He’s getting healthier. He’s played really good football for us this time of year. And we’re counting on him come the season.”
The Falcons won each of their last four games last season with Cousins at the helm. In those contests, Cousins completed 62.6 percent of his passes for 876 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. He also had a rushing TD.
Veteran wide receiver Brandon Johnson didn’t have to wait long to find a new home after being released by the Steelers on Wednesday.
The Raiders announced that they have signed Johnson to their 90-man roster on Thursday. Wide receiver Corey Rucker was placed on injured reserve in a corresponding move.
Johnson did not play in any games last season while spending time on practice squads in Pittsburgh and Tampa. He had one catch for nine yards in three games for the Steelers in 2024 and 25 catches for 326 yards and five touchdowns while with the Broncos the previous two years.
Rucker signed with the Raiders after going undrafted out of Arkansas State earlier this year.
The Raiders’ 2026 schedule-release video unofficially gave rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza a nickname. He now wants to make it official.
Via attorney Josh Gerben, Mendoza filed on Monday a trademark application for the term “Nandolorian.”
As Gerben notes, the move could spark a fight with Disney and Lucasfilm, which holds 16 trademarks related to the “Mandalorian,” part of the broader Star Wars universe.
One question is whether it counts as a parody. That would be Mendoza’s position, if/when Disney and Lucasfilm challenge the filing.
Like Caleb Williams and “Iceman,” Mendoza’s move is aimed at preventing others from making and selling “Nandolorian” merchandise and keeping the money. Disney would likely say that those rights are theirs to protect, if/when people begin selling “Nandolorian” gear.
The situation could get interesting if/when Disney calls its ESPN partner (the NFL) to try to get Mendoza to back down. Mendoza seems eager to please and to placate his team. If/when the NFL asks the Raiders to ask Mendoza to withdraw his application, what will he do?
Kirk Cousins doesn’t want to be known as a mentor to rookie Fernando Mendoza, calling the title “a bit of a reach.” Instead, the veteran quarterback says the dynamic is a collaboration.
"[It’s] more of a narrative than it is the truth,” Cousins said Tuesday, via Ryan McFadden of ESPN. “They’re pretty good players, pretty experienced, and I’m learning a lot from them, too, and asking questions to them.
“Nobody’s leading more than someone else. I think we’re all a working force together, helping each other, giving feedback, giving perspective [and] giving another set of eyes.”
Cousins, 37, signed with the Raiders only three weeks before they drafted Mendoza with the No. 1 overall. Cousins has the most experience and the most knowledge of Klint Kubiak’s offense, with the two having spent time together in Minnesota. But Aidan O’Connell, in his fourth season with the team, has the most familiarity with the organization.
Cousins said he, O’Connell and Mendoza have all participated in the learning process and pushed each other to get better.
“I’ve always felt I prepare my best during the season when we can all kind of be together in that room in the evening, going over things together rather than working in our own,” Cousins said. “I think when we can kind of all be given feedback on each other, that’s when I think the best ideas come out.”
New Raiders linebacker Nakobe Dean missed all of the voluntary offseason program. He was at the team’s media day on Monday, with Dean posting a photo on social media of himself in his uniform against a green screen.
Dean, though, was not present on the field at the team’s mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
“No, there’s no concern,” Raiders assistant head coach Mike McCoy. “He’s a pro. This is the offseason. The number one thing is that we’re taking it one day at a time, and we can get through these next couple days and minicamp and you get through training camp. The key thing is to have everybody as fresh as possible and ready to go for the opener. That’s the number one focus.”
Dean’s absence is unclear.
He has played only 47 of 68 possible games in his career, missing time with a pectoral injury, a foot injury, a patellar tendon tear and a hamstring injury.
Dean spent his first four seasons in Philadelphia after the Eagles made him a third-round pick in 2022. He totaled 226 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 13 quarterback hits, three forced fumbles and five passes defensed.
At some point, Fernando Mendoza will be the Raiders’ starting quarterback. He’s not that yet.
The No. 1 overall pick is working behind Kirk Cousins and Aidan O’Connell in the offseason program, paying his dues and learning the ropes.
“I’m just trying to work every single day, and right now, I’m repping with the threes and a little bit with the twos,” Mendoza said Tuesday, via Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “So, right now I’m just trying to prove myself and do the best in whatever rep I get and treat every rep like it’s a Super Bowl.”
New coach Klint Kubiak has repeatedly said he would prefer that a rookie quarterback not start Day 1, and the sportsbooks like Cousins to start Week 1. But the Raiders are giving Mendoza every chance to win the job, and he is doing his best to take advantage of the opportunity.
“I think there’s always a transition, especially from the college level to the NFL level, and it’s having those positive stressors, and that growing period,” Mendoza said. “There are going to be some growing pains. Luckily, I feel confident that I’m able to see the field well. My growing pains are coming from, ‘Hey, I’ve got to time up my footwork a little bit with the routes,’ and intricacies here and there. I’m really working hard with the coaching staff, who are pushing me, and have done a phenomenal job of relaying and communicating the information needed. It’s up to me take full advantage of that.
“I feel like I’ve been growing every day, from the first day of OTAs, then today at minicamp. I feel like I’m leaps and bounds ahead of where I was.”
More than 90 percent of the players selected in the 2026 NFL draft have signed their rookie contracts. Among the players who remain unsigned, there are two big clusters, at the top of the third round and the top of the fourth round.
The first six players drafted in the third round are still unsigned: Cardinals quarterback Carson Beck, Broncos defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim, Raiders defensive end Keyron Crawford, Eagles tackle Markel Bell, Bears tight end Sam Roush and 49ers edge rusher Romello Height.
The first seven players drafted in the fourth round are also unsigned: Raiders cornerback Jermond McCoy, Bills tackle Jude Bowry, Jets defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr., Cardinals defensive tackle Kaleb Proctor, Chargers wide receiver Brenen Thompson, Texans guard Febechi Nwaiwu and 49ers defensive tackle Gracen Halton.
Those 13 players make up the majority of the 2026 draft picks who haven’t signed their rookie contracts yet.
Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said on the team’s YouTube show that high third and fourth-round picks are encouraged by the players’ union to ask for contract provisions that the players in the previous round are getting.
“A lot of years it was the third round took forever,” Beane said. “The union is constantly trying to push down everything from the second round into the third round, and then the third round to make the fourth round better. In this CBA it feels like the fourth round has become more difficult.”
Beane said he understand why Bowry’s agent doesn’t want him to sign until he sees what other fourth-round picks can get, but he thinks it will work itself out before training camp.
“Sometimes agents are a little afraid to do something if the guy in front of them hasn’t done it,” Beane said. “They don’t want to look bad. It’s all recruiting. Jude’s been great. Until it’s done it’s not done, but we’re optimistic.”
A handful of first- and second-round picks also remain unsigned. Every player picked in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds has signed.
