Fernando Mendoza, the first overall pick of the 2026 NFL draft, stands alongside several other Latine players with growing traction in professional football, despite being historically underrepresented in the sport. 

The Las Vegas Raiders welcomed Mendoza to their team on April 23. The future quarterback says it is “not the end of the journey,” but the start, paralleling the eagerness of DePaul’s Vincent Peña, who says Latine representation in football is “basically nonexistent,” and the growing representation of Latine players is “not fast enough.” 

A 2023 report from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found Latine NFL players only make up 0.5% of all NFL players, despite Latine people accounting for 20% of the U.S. population. Latine players only make up 7% of the student-athlete population in collegiate football, according to a 2025 NCAA report.

Peña, an assistant sports communication professor, said in both collegiate and professional football, there is an “underrepresentation of Latinos at both levels, which makes something like Fernando Mendoza kind of a big deal.”

Following his 16-0 2025 season at Indiana University, the first undefeated college football season since the 1898 Yale Bulldogs, Mendoza won the Heisman trophy. The award recognizes the best player in college football — Mendoza is the third ever Latine player to win, following Jim Plunkett in 1970 and Bryce Young in 2021. 

In the same season, he led the Indiana Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship.

Eric Serrano, a DePaul sophomore studying sports communication, said Mendoza’s achievements “prove a point” about the resilience of Latine culture.  

As a Latine person, to see a hard work ethic instilled in both himself and Mendoza at a young age, Serrano said he feels a sense of pride to see Latino players reflect that.

“Being able to exemplify that — at the biggest league in the entire world — shows so much about the message of culture,” Serrano said. 

Tyler Giron, a DePaul sophomore studying business administration, says he is inspired by the current representation of Latine players in the NFL because he also feels a personal connection to his Latine culture and hopes to see continued progress. 

“Seeing people that are underrepresented make history, especially in the NFL, always makes me feel proud and hopeful for the future,” Giron said. 

As Peña sees it, football is one of the “strongest cultural forces we have in the U.S.” 

Connecting the sport’s significance to the importance of the Latine demographic, Peña noted that “almost as many people watch the Super Bowl as vote in our elections.” 

In 2024, the NFL began an initiative called “Por La Cultura” which translates to
“For the Culture,” to celebrate the league’s 39 million Latine fans in the U.S., and their “Latino players, coaches and staff,” during Latine Heritage Month. 

However, Peña said the program is “inherently problematic” because of the NFL’s lack of advocacy for this large part of their fan base amid increasing federal immigration raids.  

An analysis by USA Today Sports, 16 of the 24 NFL owners with active partisan giving either mostly or solely donated to Republican candidates. In total, about 83% of the money donated by NFL owners went to conservative candidates and causes.

“They don’t respond, but they want the Latino community’s money in a couple months for their little heritage night, then I think that’s insincere,” Peña said.

In 2023, the NFL received an A+ grade from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport for the racial diversity of their players. Peña said it is largely because Black players make up 70% of the league, while Asian and Pacific Islanders and Latines, for example, are still underrepresented.

“If we accept that it’s diverse by only having one other ethnic group, it kind of leaves us without having to answer why Latinos don’t have any spot in this league,” Peña said. 

Latine representation in the NFL is growing, with 47 Latine players on 2025 season rosters, up from just 12 in 2021.

While Mendoza was the first overall pick, seven other Latine players were drafted, including KC Concepcion, Jacob Rodríguez, Fernando Carmona, Josh Cuevas, Enrique Cruz Jr. and Gabriel Rubio.

Serrano said the Latine prospects in this year’s draft will “unintentionally open up people’s minds.” 

“Those players are going to be the ones who can change opinions,” Serrano said. “Having them in the league and having them perform at a high level can break the mold and biases.”