The last best opportunity for National Football League personnel departments to evaluate college talent has just completed, and the countdown to the Las Vegas Raiders selecting Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick has begun.

Right move?

The Raiders need so much. Is this a time for them to offer the first pick this year for multiple selections in succeeding drafts? What is the first pick worth this year, it is not a season in which a Peyton Manning, John Elway or Andrew Luck is up for grabs, but Mendoza is a first-class talent in both on field play and character.

The New York Jets pick second this year, and if they listened to me, no need for them to do that by the way, I think they should take Alabama Quarterback Ty Simpson if Mendoza is already off the board. They won’t, they are the Jets, and are likely to take edge monster David Bailey out of Texas Tech. The Jets have had a lot of quarterbacks fly through their ranks and none have distinguished themselves with the kind of career credentials that make them Hall of Fame enshrinees.

I know what you’re thinking; what about Joe Namath?

I loved Namath as a kid, and he was still quarterbacking the Jets when I joined the Raiders in 1973. It was the Jets public relations director, Frank Ramos, who pointed out to me that Namath had as many winning seasons as losing years with the Jets, six, and only had two seasons, 1968 and 1969, where he led New York to at least four more wins than losses. He completed his career in New York with more losses than wins.

Still, Namath earned his induction into the Hall of Fame by providing the National Football League the spike it needed in Super Bowl III to allow the upstart American Football League to somewhat contend they were on a par to the more established NFL This was before the two leagues merged into the American and National conferences in 1970. Namath added to the accomplishment by guaranteeing a win over a Baltimore Colts team that was favored by 19 points.

Okay, the Jets had that, but tell me what other QB had a franchise turning career for the team that wears green in New York? And, just to add a little salt to the wound of QB folly for the Jets, the quarterback they drafted in 2018 just won the Super Bowl after earning 14 game winning seasons for two franchises in consecutive years. That would be Sam Darnold, who led the Minnesota Vikings two years ago and the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks last season.

Back to current times, Heisman Trophy winner Mendoza is a solid prospect, and by all accounts will go first in next month’s draft. At the just completed NFL combine some scouts rated Simpson over Mendoza. They did this based on what they saw on the field, while I suggest they ought to go visit his parents.

I have noticed that the best quarterbacks have the benefit of a solid family life in their formative years. While athletes who have what appear to be physical attributes to distinguish them as stars but who find their most confusing calendar date Father’s Day, collapse under the rigors that require both mental and physical strengths while the focal point of an NFL franchise.

In this regard, Mendoza scores high with the benefit of a great family to serve as his training ground for life. Other would-be stars weren’t among those that were standouts at the combine in past years but have turned out pretty good when their upbringing was solid, in that class are Tom Brady and current San Francisco 49er Brock Purdy. Brady was a sixth round draft choice, Purdy the last player taken in the 2022 draft.

Combine physical talent with a solid family life and you get the likes of Peyton Manning, John Elway and Dan Marino.

Now, using this scale to evaluate a quarterback’s prospects, you might think that major disappointment Ryan Leaf, who some thought should have been drafted before Manning in 1998, would have been raised by wolves.

Not so, Leaf had a great family life with solid parental guidance and still was a bust in the NFL.

Oh yeah, the exception to the rule.

There is likely to be no exception at the top of this year’s draft. Mendoza will go first to the Raiders and struggle in his career on a team solely lacking both talent on the field and management starting with the owner. The Jets will add to their defense and miss what might have been with a possible franchise quarterback.

Nothing new.