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By Nelson Espinal
Contributing Sports Reporter
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Neither Fernando Mendoza nor Ty Simpson has signed their rookie contracts despite NFL training camp starting soon.
Mendoza, who was taken with the No. 1 overall pick, is meant to report on July 23 to the Las Vegas Raiders camp. Simpson, on the other hand, is supposed to show up on July 25 for the Los Angeles Rams.
Considering Mendoza's status as the Raiders' franchise quarterback, it is surprising that he has not been able to get what he wants in his contract.
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Typically, these holdouts can get guaranteed money and contract specifics. Seemingly, Mendoza's agent is still asking for certain things that the Raiders, up until this point, do not want to give.
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Former NFL agent and CBS reporter Joel Curry broke down why Simpson and Mendoza have not signed and what they could be asking for.
According to Curry, Mendoza likely wants his signing bonus payment to be a lump sum, something that the Raiders do not typically do.
"The Raiders haven't been paying first-round pick signing bonuses in a lump sum. The payment schedule for the previous three first-round picks -- Ashton Jeanty (2025, sixth overall), Brock Bowers (2024, 13th overall) and Tyree Wilson (2023, seventh overall) -- was 77.5% within 15 days of signing, 12.5% in mid-September and the final 10% in mid-October," Curry wrote.
"Under the Raiders' typical payment structure, Mendoza would receive $29.563 million in his first installment, which is less than the entire signing bonus [Travis] Hunter received in a lump-sum payment last year. David Bailey, the second overall pick in 2026, received $28,978,749 of his $36,223,436 signing bonus -- 80% of the total -- one week after signing on May 15."
Mendoza is likely also waiting to see what happens with Simpson, who, per Curry, will be aiming to avoid any contract offsets — a clause that allows teams to pay less than the guaranteed money in a deal if they sign with another team, essentially subtracting what they get from their new deal.
Simpson will also be looking to get his $14 million bonus in a lump sum, which makes it harder for the Raiders not to do so for their quarterback.
Likely, this ends up being a short holdout, if at all, for either quarterback, though these talks can linger at times.
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