It’s no secret that the Las Vegas Raiders are all-in to draft QB Fernando Mendoza with their No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Now they’ll need a coach ready to develop him into the franchise-altering player they intend him to be. Former Steelers QB coach Mike Sullivan was tabbed for that role.
According to Mike Garafolo, the Raiders are hiring Sullivan as their QB coach.
“The Raiders are hiring a QB coach after all. Mike Sullivan has been tabbed to work with presumptive No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, sources tell The Insiders. It’ll be Sullivan’s fifth stint as a QB coach — two with the Giants, one each with the Steelers and Broncos,” he wrote.
Sullivan interviewed with the #Raiders a few weeks ago. The team initially announced its coaching staff sans QB coach. Sullivan was on his way to Rutgers to reunite with his former #Buccaneers HC Greg Schiano but Vegas doubled back and moved to hire Sullivan. He’s now aboard. https://t.co/CiVEV3RsM3
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 25, 2026
Sullivan was the Steelers’ QB coach from 2021 to 2023 under offensive coordinator Matt Canada. He also took over as the interim offensive play caller when Canada was fired. He worked with Ben Roethlisberger during the final year of his storied career and was then given Kenny Pickett to help develop into a franchise quarterback. That project ultimately failed, but the Raiders like the experience that Sullivan brings to the table.
His first NFL coaching job came with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2002, where he worked with Mark Brunell and later Byron Leftwich. After several years with the wide receivers in New York, the Giants moved him to QBs coach with Eli Manning firmly entrenched as the starting quarterback.
Now he will presumably work with Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza in a new coaching staff led by Klint Kubiak. Keep in mind that Tom Brady took a minority ownership stake in the team and has worked closely with the football operations team ever since. This was a smart hire to provide an experienced voice to the staff of a first-time head coach. And Sullivan gets another swing at developing a first-round quarterback after the failed Pickett experiment.
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