- Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza profiles as a solid NFL starter: The 2025 Heisman Trophy winner has earned a 91.6 PFF grade while leading Indiana to the national championship game, firmly placing himself on the radar as one of the most intriguing quarterback prospects in the 2026 draft class.
- Mendoza has been outstanding from clean pockets this season: He posted elite PFF passing grades without pressure and without the blitz, pairing both with adjusted completion percentages above 78.0%. In those situations, his average time to throw came in under 2.50 seconds, highlighting his confidence and decisiveness on pre-snap reads.
- Build your own 2026 NFL Draft board and grade the prospects yourself: With PFF’s Big Board Builder, customize trait grades, compare prospects across positions and save and share your board.
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Editor’s note: This article was originally published Jan. 14 but has been republished after Indiana’s national championship victory and Fernando Mendoza’s performance in the title game.
Eight teams remain in the NFL playoffs, but for the other 24 fanbases — and especially those still searching for a long-term answer at quarterback — attention has already shifted toward the 2026 NFL Draft.
PFF equips fans with the tools and data needed to navigate the NFL draft, with resources like the PFF Big Board, the Mock Draft Simulator and the newly launched Big Board Builder.
Here, we’re using that Big Board Builder to put an early draft grade on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, one of college football’s breakout stars this season. The 2025 Heisman Trophy winner has earned a 91.6 PFF grade while leading Indiana to the national championship game, firmly placing himself on the radar as one of the most intriguing quarterback prospects in the 2026 draft class.
SETTING UP THE PROCESS: THE TRAITS I PRIORITIZE, HOW THEY’RE WEIGHTED AND WHY THEY MATTER
The PFF Big Board Builder goes beyond simply creating a ranked list of draft prospects. At its core is Scouting Mode, which allows users to select the traits they want to assess, assign custom weights to each category and establish an evaluation framework before entering a single grade.
Once those traits are set, prospects are graded on a 1-to-10 scale across each category, with Scouting Mode applying the weights to generate a final draft grade that mirrors your individual scouting philosophy.
At quarterback, the ability to operate efficiently from a clean pocket when everything is on schedule is foundational. That is why clean-pocket accuracy is emphasized separately from out-of-structure play — one establishes a player’s floor, while the other defines his ceiling. Decision-making and pocket management are equally important in minimizing negative plays and avoiding self-inflicted mistakes.
Mobility is a useful bonus but not a prerequisite, which is reflected in its lighter weighting. When it comes to arm talent, velocity and the ability to drive throws into tight windows in the short and intermediate areas matter more than pure distance, as those situations arise far more frequently over the course of a game.
GRADING FERNANDO MENDOZA
DECISION MAKING: 8/10
For the most part, Mendoza has been a sound decision-maker this season. His 12.5% negatively graded play rate ranks in the 89th percentile at the position, a strong indicator of good decision-making. The Purdue and Oregon games proved more challenging, and he tended to struggle when defenses dropped eight into coverage and forced him to process additional defenders, but the results were far from disastrous.
Overall, his 6.6% big-time throw rate relative to his 2.5% turnover-worthy play rate reflects a healthy risk-reward profile.
POISE & OUT-OF-STRUCTURE ACCURACY: 8/10
Poise and out-of-structure accuracy are critical components of quarterback evaluation. While these situations occur less frequently than plays from clean pockets, they often separate those who can function only within structure from those who can still create when plays break down.
For Mendoza, that area was a strength in 2025, as he earned a 71.7 PFF passing grade under pressure with seven big-time throws and five turnover-worthy plays, a solid ratio in those situations. He consistently kept his eyes downfield when flushed from the pocket, allowing him to turn pressure into opportunities rather than negative plays.
TOUCH: 8/10
Mendoza has put some really nice touch passes on tape. Without possessing one of the nation’s strongest arms, he has to compensate by layering the football with timing and trajectory that allow receivers to run underneath deep passes, a trait that showed up repeatedly in 2025.
He is primarily an in-rhythm, timing-based passer — particularly on throws like back-shoulders and out routes — but when his initial read is taken away, he still demonstrates the ability to adjust and deliver accurately on the move with natural touch.
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VELOCITY: 8/10
Mendoza does not possess elite arm strength, but his sound mechanics allow him to generate plenty of velocity when needed. He can drive the ball to the opposite sideline and fit throws into tight windows. His short- and intermediate-area velocity stands out more than his pure distance when evaluating his overall arm strength.
ACCURACY FROM A CLEAN POCKET: 8/10
Mendoza has been outstanding from clean pockets this season. He posted elite PFF passing grades without pressure and without the blitz, pairing both with adjusted completion percentages above 78.0%. In those situations, his average time to throw came in under 2.50 seconds, highlighting his confidence and decisiveness on pre-snap reads.
When kept clean, he consistently made defenses pay. That said, while his overall accuracy is strong, there are moments where his ball placement could be more precise.
DISTANCE: 7/10
Again, Mendoza does not have elite arm strength, but it is sufficient to threaten defenses vertically at the NFL level. He recorded just one throw of more than 50 yards in 2025, but his willingness to push the ball downfield still stood out, as his eight attempts of 40-plus yards trailed only Ty Simpson (15) among his draft classmates.
POCKET MANAGEMENT: 8.5/10
For the most part, Mendoza manages the pocket well. He is not prone to drifting unnecessarily when pressure is not present, and his time to throw generally stays on schedule. While he does bail out of the back of the pocket at times, that tendency is more reflective of shotgun-based dropbacks than an aversion to stepping up, something he is willing and able to do.
PROGRESSIONS: 8/10
When it comes to the balance between pure progression reads and coverage-based reads, Mendoza shows comfort with both. He consistently demonstrates coverage reads (looking to one side of the field pre-snap and watching a certain player whose routes will put him in conflict), while also showing the ability to work through full-field progressions from one sideline to the other.
Overall, Mendoza shows a strong grasp of what is required to play the position and executes it at a solid level.
MECHANICS: 9/10
Mendoza’s mechanics are generally clean and well-controlled. His footwork is balanced and consistent, avoiding an overly wide base or excessive hip rotation, which allows him to generate repeatable power. His throwing motion is compact and quick with a consistent follow-through, contributing to reliable ball placement.
While his mechanics can break down at times when throwing on the move, that is fairly common and not overly concerning.
MOBILITY: 6/10
Mendoza offers functional mobility, finishing the 2025 season with more than 300 rushing yards and a 70.2 PFF rushing grade. He is not a quarterback teams will regularly feature on designed runs or heavy RPO concepts, but he has enough athleticism to escape pressure and pick up yards or first downs with his legs when defenses fail to account for him.
