Las Vegas Raiders rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza does not believe he will be joining his former Indiana teammates when they visit the White House on May 11.
He has work that day.
“I believe May 11 is the first day of OTAs, if I’m not mistaken,” Mendoza said Saturday when asked about the possibility after a rookie minicamp practice.
Indiana’s plans to visit the White House on that date to celebrate its national championship were first reported by the Bloomington Herald-Times on Friday.
It was unclear which, if any, of the Hoosiers players who had moved on to the NFL would be able to join their former coach and teammates for the visit.
Mendoza apparently will not be part of that group.
While he wasn’t completely certain of how the Raiders OTA schedule lined up with the visit, Mendoza was fairly certain he would be staying in Southern Nevada rather than making a sidequest to Washington.
“I’ve got to check Teamworks,” he joked about the sports scheduling and operations app.
Practice, however, is his top priority.
“If it is on the first day of OTAs, I’m on the bottom of the totem pole here,” he said. “I’ve got to prove myself. I can’t miss practice. I don’t know anything official. I don’t have the calendar, but I just wouldn’t. As a rookie, I don’t think that’s a good look, and I want to try to best serve my teammates. And I don’t know if that’d be accomplishing that goal.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
