Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy.

He threw 41 touchdown passes and 6 interceptions. He led the Indiana Hoosiers to an undefeated regular season and a national championship. He is 22 years old and he has already done something that the state of Indiana will talk about for the rest of its life.

And in April, Klint Kubiak is going to select him with the first overall pick in the NFL draft and hand him the keys to a franchise that has not found its quarterback in the first round since 2007.

Let me tell you what I love about this story.

I love that it is Indiana. Not a program that has been handing first-round quarterbacks to the league since before anyone reading this was born. Not a place where the recruiting rankings were always going to produce this outcome. Indiana. A team that earned its way to the top of college football with a quarterback who won the Heisman on merit, against competition that did not give it to him, in a system that asked him to be great and found out that he was.

Mendoza is going to Las Vegas. The Raiders signed center Tyler Linderbaum to a three-year, $81 million deal — a record contract for the center position — specifically to protect him. They added linebacker Nakobe Dean and edge rusher Kwity Paye. Klint Kubiak is building an offense with a quarterack in mind, which is the only way to build an offense.

The Raiders have not made a first-round selection at quarterback in nineteen years. The last time they did, it did not go the way anyone hoped. This time, they are not guessing. They are selecting the player who went to Indiana and did the thing that earning a Heisman Trophy requires. He won games. He protected the football. He made the throw when the throw needed to be made.

You want a winner, Kubiak said.

That is the whole thing. That is all of it.

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Ten things I'm watching this week:

1. What Aaron Rodgers says before the end of March. Rapoport says the timeline has slipped but the decision is coming. Pittsburgh built a roster for him. Every day that goes by without a decision is a day that offense exists only as an idea.

2. Drake Maye and Romeo Doubs. Four years, $80 million for the receiver. New England went to the Super Bowl last year. They are adding to the team that got there. This organization is not rebuilding — they are reloading.

3. Justin Herbert with a real offensive line in Los Angeles. Three starting linemen added. Harbaugh is building what Herbert needs. Watch the first preseason game to see what a protected Herbert looks like when it is not an emergency.

4. Jaylen Waddle in Denver. Sean Payton paid a first-round pick. He does not do that unless he believes something specific about the season ahead. I want to see what he does with Waddle in the first game.

5. Trent McDuffie in Los Angeles. Sean McVay traded for a premier cornerback. The Rams' defense went and got better this week. What the secondary looks like in August is one of the NFC West's most interesting questions.

6. The A.J. Brown situation. Hollywood Brown just signed with Philadelphia for one year. That is an organization preparing. June 1 is the date that makes the trade math work. Watch the calendar.

7. The CFL Combine in Edmonton is nine days away. Eight prospects advanced from Waterloo — Liam Talbot, Tyriq Quayson, Gianni Green, Steven Kpehe, and four more. Christian Veilleux is the quarterback who could walk out of Edmonton as a first-round pick. Nine days.

8. Lane Kiffin's first LSU practice is six days away. Fifty-one new players. Sam Leavitt's foot is healing. The most anticipated spring opening in the SEC starts March 24.

9. The Illinois House is back in session today. The Bears stadium vote could happen any time. Indiana already signed their bill. The Bears are watching Springfield.

10. Fernando Mendoza is going to Las Vegas. The Raiders are going to call his name first. There is a quarterback with a Heisman Trophy and an undefeated national championship coming to the NFL, and an organization that has been waiting nineteen years to make this kind of pick is about to make it. I cannot wait.