Tom Brady and Klint Kubiak are assessing whether Fernando Mendoza is worthy of the No. 1 overall pick for the Las Vegas Raiders - and Marcel Reece believes the Indiana QB is the right fit
10:57 ET, 13 Feb 2026
Klint Kubiak's Raiders offense will be "exciting" to watch, according to Marcel Reece
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Klint Kubiak's Raiders offense will be "exciting" to watch, according to Marcel Reece(Image: Getty Images)
Tom Brady has secured the head coach to lead the Las Vegas Raiders forward. Now he needs a quarterback.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, news broke that there was mutual interest between Klint Kubiak and the Raiders, with plans to make him the franchise's 23rd full-time head coach. The agreement was confirmed swiftly after the Seattle Seahawks crushed the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX.
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Kubiak’s hire brings an end to the exhaustive search for a new head coach in Las Vegas — a process led by minority owner Brady and general manager John Spytek. The Raiders are looking to use a disappointing 2025 season that ended with a 3-14 record as a springboard for a new era.
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With the Raiders holding the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the franchise has the opportunity to redefine its identity for a decade. Fernando Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner who led Indiana to national championship glory, is the man many expect to be selected when Brady's Raiders are on the clock.
Former Raiders star Marcel Reece, who played for the franchise for nine seasons, is enticed by the prospect of pairing Kubiak with Mendoza. “It is going to be exciting,” Reece exclusively told Mirror U.S. Sports thanks to casino.us. “I also think it's going to be an offense which has a ton of diversity.
“You bring in a guy like Kubiak, and hopefully a young man like Mendoza, a quarterback, and then who knows how the shifting and the rest of the draft goes, along with the free agency window.
"The prospect of working with a strong leader like Kubiak, with such a great offensive mind, appeals to a lot of guys.
“All of a sudden, you're being paired with a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback? Free agents want to be a part of something like that.
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Fernando Mendoza enjoyed a banner 2025 season, winning the Heisman Trophy while leading Indiana to the national championship
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Fernando Mendoza enjoyed a banner 2025 season, winning the Heisman Trophy while leading Indiana to the national championship(Image: Getty Images)
“To say that you get to put on a Raiders helmet and then be in Las Vegas, what free agent doesn't want to be a part of that? Almost any playmaker would want to be part of that process and really just have some fun with it, and I think they're going to be dynamic.”
In 2025, the Seahawks climbed to second in the NFL in points per game (29.2) and seventh in yards per game (350) after posting 17th— and 15th-place finishes in those categories the previous season. Kubiak’s offensive ingenuity with Mendoza is exciting to consider, but Reece made sure not to forget about the players and weapons already on the roster.
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“Brock Bowers is a guy who has had fantastic numbers on offenses that, in all honesty, haven't been that good, if we're being quite transparent about it,” Reese added. “You have a great young runner in Ashton Jeanty, who had a really good rookie season. And again, it's a rookie season when there were a lot of struggles involved.
“There weren't a lot of weapons to focus on with Bowers being in and out of the lineup, plus there were some quarterback struggles.
“Now you're looking at an offense that has playmakers already in line, adding to that a quarterback who's ready to roll and Kubiak, a Super Bowl-winning play caller. The sky is the limit.”