After the Raiders selected Fernando Mendoza first in April’s NFL Draft, Tom Brady has been leaning on lessons from Peyton Manning—because Manning’s 1998 arrival carried “a tremendous amount of expectation.” Brady says Mendoza faces similar pressure, but also d
When Fernando Mendoza walked into the Raiders’ football world as the top pick, it didn’t just come with a jersey and a playbook. It came with a spotlight.
Tom Brady has been close enough to see how that kind of attention changes the air around a rookie. The Las Vegas Raiders minority owner helped drive the decision to take Mendoza first in April’s NFL Draft, and Brady has shown up consistently during the rookie’s acclimation.
Brady also admits there’s one burden he never had to carry as a player: being drafted to the highest expectation possible.
That’s where Peyton Manning enters the mentoring—right through the specific pressures Manning faced when he joined the Indianapolis Colts in 1998. On an episode of the “Stick To Football” podcast. Brady talked at length about Manning’s NFL arrival to former European soccer stars Gary Neville. Roy Keane and Ian Wright.
Brady pointed to what made Manning’s landing so heavy: Archie Manning’s professional success, Peyton’s college career at the University of Tennessee, and his status as the top selection. Manning carried “a tremendous amount of expectation” when he stepped into the league.
Brady said the quality he admired most was that Manning always found a way to exceed it.
“He always outperformed his expectation. ” Brady said. describing Manning as “very much like me: process-oriented. tough. disciplined. driven. accountable. ” while also arguing that Peyton’s path was uniquely harder. Brady contrasted what people would notice immediately if Manning failed with what he faced on his own route.
“My path was challenging in different ways,” Brady said. “Peyton, if he failed, everyone saw it right away. And he had to take that on, and he superseded all those expectations because of his will and determination.”
Brady’s story isn’t just respect for the myth of Manning. It’s anchored in what happened after the early scrutiny. Manning went on to have a Hall of Fame career. winning five MVPs and two Super Bowls. and he beat Brady’s New England Patriots three times in the AFC Championship Game over the course of his career with the Colts and Denver Broncos.
That full arc is exactly what Brady is trying to translate to Mendoza now: not just what the expectations feel like, but how to move through them.
At the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp, Mendoza said he and Brady prefer to keep their conversations private. Still, Mendoza did share what the mentoring has been shaping.
At the Raiders’ media day, Mendoza said Brady’s message about mentality and preparation echoed something Mendoza’s trying to build into his own routine.
“What he said as a quarterback is you need to be the most everything,” Mendoza said. “You need to be the most competitive. You have to have the most leadership. You need to be the toughest, mentally and physically. You’ve got to embody all these things and lead by example before getting the respect from your teammates. in order to lead effectively. That really resonated with me.”.
The pressure Mendoza is carrying is real. Brady’s point is that expectations can be louder than the play itself. But he also stressed that Mendoza won’t face the exact rookie experience Manning did.
Mendoza doesn’t have the same weighty last name or pedigree as Manning. And the Raiders appear set on a different path for his first season. Brady said Kirk Cousins is expected to start the season, while Mendoza develops slowly.
Manning, by contrast, was thrown right into the fire his first season. He threw 28 interceptions, a rookie record that still stands.
Brady added that Mendoza has a sounding board Manning didn’t have: “the greatest quarterback of all time” in his corner.
Even with those differences, Brady believes Mendoza is ready for what comes with being the top pick.
Brady said that since the scouting process began. Mendoza “did an incredible job of making it very clear to everyone that he was the best prospect for the next level.” Because Mendoza was “the best quarterback and the most developed prospect available. ” Brady said. “It was very natural for us to select him.”.
Once Mendoza became a Raider, Brady said the draft slot stops being the story.
“Now you’re just a member of the team,” Brady said. “Now you have to develop him. And I think most people, and probably a lot of fans, they think just because you get a player on the team, well, now he’s going to be great. No, there’s a lot of development that still needs to happen.”
Brady also warned that the target will be visible in a way it rarely is for late-round or undrafted players. With the top-pick billing, he said Mendoza will attract the kind of attention competitors often reserve for the star.
“It’s harder,” Brady’s overall message seemed to suggest—harder because every other quarterback in the building will feel that opening to prove something.
Whether Mendoza can handle that competition within the Raiders and outside them, Brady believes, comes down to the same things that built Manning’s late-overcoming legacy: development and drive.
Tom Brady Fernando Mendoza Raiders NFL Draft April Peyton Manning Kirk Cousins Stick To Football podcast Archie Manning University of Tennessee Indianapolis Colts New England Patriots AFC Championship Game