Indiana football QB Fernando Mendoza hit with 4th round draft grade by Ex-Jets scout

The story of the 2025 college football season has been the Indiana football season. The Hoosiers have been dominant all year, are on the verge of winning a national championship after beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl, and are preparing to face Oregon in the Peach Bowl. The key is Fernando Mendoza, who won the Heisman Trophy and is widely seen as the top pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Despite all the buzz around Mendoza, a former scout for the New York Jets, Daniel Kelly is not the biggest fan. He was on the latest episode of “Fearless with Jason Whitlock,” and said that he initially thought that Mendoza was a fifth-round quarterback, but he improved to a fourth-round quarterback. He also said that he sees more downsides with Mendoza than upsides and does not trust him in the league.

Kelly said, “When I looked at Fernando Mendoza, there were some real concerns that I listed. You know it’s not that I don’t like him. I want him to get a fair valuation so his grade matches what he’s put on tape. Which will give him the best possible chance to succeed in the NFL.”

The criticisms are that Kelly sees him as a system quarterback and is not enamored of his athletic ability.

“With Mendoza, he’s a stiff, rigid, kind of an awkward systematic quarterback,” Kelly said. “Everything he does is systematic. He’s a control guy. He likes to be in control of everything going on around him. He’s a guy who works from his spot where he takes his snap in shotgun.”

The most significant point Kelly was making is that he sees Mendoza as slow out of the pocket and unathletic. He also makes quick throws, and Kelly thinks that he can’t read defenses well because of that.

Kelly continued, “I really question if he can read defenses that well because when you watch him on film, he looks like he knows where he’s going with the ball before it’s even snapped.”

It is also worth noting that the game between Indiana and Oregon could decide the top pick in the NFL Draft.

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