Fernando Mendoza embraces the marathon draft process as he embarks on his 1st step in NFL career

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Some NFL draft prospects get worn out by the league's marathon draft process.

Fernando Mendoza embraced it. He did the interviews, made the rounds and firmed up his draft night plans with his trademark smile and positive attitude. Now all he can do is wait to see what happens Thursday night.

The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and overwhelming favorite to be taken No. 1 overall said Monday he's enjoyed each step along the path as he anticipates starting the next chapter of his football journey — whether it's in Las Vegas backing up Kirk Cousins or going to some other team.

“ It's been long, but it's been great because a job interview usually is a couple of weeks or even a single day in the office, but this job interview has been a couple of months," Mendoza told The Associated Press. “The teams know everything about you, and that's been my favorite part. They can peel back the layers and see the true you. It's been great to test my football IQ, my football knowledge.”

The Raiders — or any of the three other teams he spoke to — likely found little to quibble with.

In fact, Mendoza and pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced Monday they had formed a new partnership with the quarterback becoming a spokesman urging people to get early cancer screenings. It seems a natural pairing given that he has watched someone close to him battle cancer, his mother is still battling multiple sclerosis and his father is a doctor.

Two commercials have been cut and are scheduled to air Thursday night, and Mendoza said he expects this campaign, Every Breakthrough Matters, to expand, potentially into other health battles.

Still, Mendoza's mind is mostly on football though he's not dropping any hints about whether he knows what the Raiders are thinking.

While he's met three times with Las Vegas officials since leading the Indiana Hoosiers to their first national title in mid-January, the Boston-born Mendoza also met his boyhood favorite, Raiders minority owner Tom Brady, who got an in-person look at Mendoza at the championship game.

He's also spoken with the New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns, who hold the second, third and sixth overall picks and could be in the market for a new franchise quarterback.

But he also denied suggestions he's been studying a Las Vegas playbook, explaining the rumors started after he sought help from former NFL quarterback and quarterbacks coach Brian Griese to get a head start on some elements of what he expects to see wherever he lands. Mendoza and Griese attended the same Miami high school — Christopher Columbus — decades apart.

“We knew each other and I reached out to him and said ‘Hey, I’ve got to get ready for this. I don't care what my Pro Day looks like, I just want to help my guys on Pro Day and I want to be the best quarterback come September, can you help me with this?'” Mendoza said. “He (played) in the West Coast offense so we were able to install a lot of West Coast concepts, just general concepts and under center concepts every single team runs.”

But Mendoza also wants to keep Thursday night low key.

Instead of traveling to Pittsburgh where the draft will be held, he wants to spend some time completing this journey with those who helped him reach this point, including his younger brother, Alberto. They'll all be surrounding Fernando Mendoza in Miami on Thursday night.

“I've done so much traveling this year, it's a lot easier for my mom and her health is at the forefront,” Mendoza said. “We need to hop on a plane the next day for whatever team drafts me and to be there with the village that's poured into me — friends, family, coaches, mentors — to be there with all of them and to share the start of this NFL journey, it's going to create the best memory for our family.”

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