Ed Graney: Can Fernando Mendoza make Raiders fans forget about the team's last No. 1 pick?

LAS VEGAS — It’s not going to be the same. At least that’s what everyone with the Raiders hopes and — you can imagine — believes.

The team has for the first time since 2007 a first overall selection in the NFL draft and is expected to make Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza the pick.

They also chose a quarterback the last time at No. 1.

JaMarcus Russell is still fuming at the insinuation he was an all-time bust. No matter what facts are presented.

Russell and former LSU teammate Dwayne Bowe have taken to coaching at their All-Pro Academy, which they founded. The goal of such camps is to offer concentrated NFL training designed to instantly elevate a player’s game.

To help youth sharpen skills between seasons.

Teaching kids

“There are guys who really have no mentorship, and this is a good time to do this because of all the stuff JaMarcus went through,” said Bowe, who played nine NFL seasons at wide receiver. “It’s time to teach these kids the business side, how to deal with pressure and adversity. Why not learn it from the guys who have the proper information?

“If we can change one kid’s life, we can change all of them. I think the important lesson we can teach them is how to manage life and not just football. Things about being a man. JaMarcus can now tell his story. It comes from his mouth. Everybody goes through things.”

Russell, now 40, went through a lot as a Raider and much of it was his own doing.

He signed a six-year contract worth $68 million with $31.5 million guaranteed. Had all the tools. But his commitment to the organization and his craft was questioned from almost the beginning of his time. His fitness often was criticized.

He was gone after three seasons, having thrown 18 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. He had lasted 31 games. Never again played in the NFL. That’s where the bust label comes into the narrative.

It was the late owner Al Davis who wanted more than anything to draft Russell, believing his size and arm strength would translate into a franchise-changing player. Some in the organization, including then-coach Lane Kiffin, disagreed.

Mark Davis, Al’s son who now owns the Raiders, will certainly be involved in any decision regarding Mendoza. But the former has said he will leave it to general manager John Spytek and coach Klint Kubiak to make such final calls.

“Having the first pick in the draft is exciting because we kind of control the draft — we get to make the decision on who we’re gonna pick,” Davis has said. “But we’ve had that position before, and it didn’t work out.

“So there’s no magic bullet there, but it’s a great opportunity to get a great player, whoever they decide to pick.”

He’s different

You have Mendoza, who led Indiana to a 16-0 record and national championship while completing 72% of his passes, as an obvious choice. Whether it’s obvious he has a better chance to succeed than Russell is anyone’s guess.

But, by all accounts, it appears he does.

“He needs to take it one day at a time and reach out to other guys who went No. 1 and to figure out all the pressure that comes with it,” Bowe said. “You saw that with JaMarcus.

“Mendoza seems ready for this and is a well-rounded, all-together type of guy. JaMarcus and I want to grow those types of athletes.”

Russell on the “Raw Room” podcast seemed to blame things such as a lack of talent at wide receiver, a coaching staff that didn’t want him and a losing culture for most of his downfall. He blamed a lot of people other than himself.

But what happened was on him as much as anyone.

“Lane was the head coach, so I really didn’t have to deal with Lane,” Russell said. “I dealt with (assistant coaches). Me and (Kiffin) didn’t have bad interactions.

“They didn’t give us time to be who we needed to be, even though he didn’t want me. … Things just weren’t set up for success.”

Kirk Morrison is a former Raiders linebacker and now team broadcast analyst who played with Russell. He sees stark differences between then and now, between what occurred with Russell and how Mendoza might integrate himself into whatever NFL locker room he finds himself.

One point: The collective bargaining agreement was different in 2007 and Russell held out of training camp, basically missing an entire offseason of work. It’s different now with the rookie wage scale. Mendoza will more than benefit from an intense offseason learning the ins and outs of being an NFL quarterback.

“It’s similar to what happened at Indiana,” Morrison said. “Just surround him with good players and he will elevate them. Guys who weren’t household names became household names because of Fernando’s work ethic and tenacity. Allow him to be him.

“He’s going to pick up an offense. He’s that smart. Just have the pieces around him.”

Keys to kingdom

Morrison broadcast games when Mendoza was quarterback at California, before the transfer to Indiana, before 16-0 and a national title, before the fame and destiny of being a No. 1 overall selection.

Back when the quarterback was a mere diamond in the rough and not ranked among the best at his position nationally.

“Coaches would always say, ‘Fernando wants to know the why of every single play,’ ” Morrison said. “That’s all. ‘Hey, why are we using this motion, why are we running this play, why are we using this split?’ It was in a good way. So, he can always keep the repetition the same or how important his play-fake is or how important the receiver’s motion of offensive line checks are.

“The best part is the player here. He’s going to show you how to make him the best player he can be.”

It never happened with Russell.

Morrison reminds that Kiffin was fired four games into Russell’s second season, that the sort of upheaval surrounding that time wouldn’t be an issue for Mendoza.

That those like Spytek and Kubiak should bring a sense of continuity the Raiders didn’t have back in the mid-2000s.

“I really thought the world of JaMarcus and still think the world of him,” Morrison said. “I don’t think he really understood the magnitude of what it meant to be the No. 1 overall pick, to have the keys to the organization and having guys depend on him and his performance week in and week out.

“The structure of what was going on with the coaching staff internally was tough all the way around.”

Morrison brings up that the Raiders were coming off a 2-14 season and were trying to change the culture.

“That was a lot to put on a young quarterback who basically missed an entire offseason,” Morrison said. “He was learning on the run and here you go, the keys. I don’t know if anybody is ready for that.

“It’s a heavy weight to burden if you’re not prepared for it.”

The Raiders must hope and believe Mendoza is.

This isn’t 2007. That’s a lifetime ago.