Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza is one in all only two players chosen in the primary round of this yr’s draft who has not yet signed his rookie deal. The second player is Ty Simpson, the one other signal-caller taken in the primary round, and that will not be necessarily a coincidence.
As former agent and current CBS analyst Joel Corry observes, the inspiration of Mendoza’s contract is already set. In some unspecified time in the future, he’ll put pen to paper on a four-year, $57.27MM deal with a fifth-year option and a $38.11MM signing bonus. As we have now seen for the reason that implementation of the rookie wage scale within the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, nonetheless, the quantity to be paid is basically a non-issue relating to negotiating rookie contracts. Fairly, the timing of the signing bonus payout, offset language, and provisions regarding the voiding of guarantees can turn into sticking points.
Corry believes the signing bonus schedule is the holdup in Mendoza’s case. While signing bonuses generally aren’t paid out in a lump sum, No. 1 overall picks like Mendoza have turn into the exception to the rule (Kyler Murray, whom the Cardinals chosen in 2019, was the last top pick who didn’t receive his bonus ).
Unsurprisingly, first-round quarterbacks have also began to get in on the motion even in the event that they weren’t the primary player off the board. Corry points out that every one six signal-callers who heard their name called on Day 1 in 2024 – including Bo Nix, who was taken at No. 12 overall as the ultimate member of that sextet – landed their signing bonuses in a lump.
The Raiders have paid 77.5% of the signing bonuses because of their most up-to-date first-rounders inside 15 days of the date they signed their contracts. They then paid 12.5% in mid-September and the ultimate 10% in mid-October.
That very same schedule might not be acceptable to Mendoza, especially for the reason that No. 2 overall pick of the 2025 draft, Travis Hunter (a non-quarterback), received a lump sum payout. 2025’s No. 1 pick, QB Cam Ward, received the whole lot of his bonus inside 30 days of inking his rookie contract.
A delayed payout could also be even less palatable for Mendoza if Simpson doesn’t need to contend with such a delay. Per Corry, Simpson is “probably” insisting the Rams extend him the identical courtesy the 2024 cadre of first-round passers received (in any case, Simpson was taken at No. 13 overall, one spot lower than Nix).
Corry says every club apart from the Rams and Jaguars insist on offset language of their rookie contracts, so Simpson caught a break there. If Los Angeles gives Simpson a deal featuring no offsets and a lump sum signing bonus payment, it’s going to turn into tougher for Las Vegas to carry firm on their preferred installment plan (regardless that Mendoza’s bonus is over 2.5 times as large as Simpson’s).
Corry openly wonders whether Mendoza would consider some type of holdout if the Raiders play hardball here. At this point, though, there have been no whispers of discontent, as there have been last yr when the Bengals and first-rounder Shemar Stewart were engaged in a lengthy stand-off over language regarding the voiding of guarantees.