Tom Telesco poised to stay in AFC West with Raiders
Jan 23, 2024, 3:09 PM | Updated: 3:15 pm
Under the watch of Tom Telesco, the Chargers won two playoff games and made three postseason appearances in his 11 seasons on the job.
Put it this way: The Broncos matched the latter tally and exceeded the former in that same time span — and they haven’t made a postseason appearance since the Obama administration.
But on Tuesday, Tom Telesco appeared to find a soft landing spot with the Las Vegas Raiders. As first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, “all signs point” to the Raiders hiring Telesco as their new general manager.
Former Broncos executive Champ Kelly had been serving as the Raiders’ interim general manager since the team fired Dave Ziegler — himself a Broncos front-office alumnus — after a 3-5 start.
Ziegler, who also worked with the New England Patriots, was a package deal with coach Josh McDaniels, who Raiders owner Mark Davis dismissed as player dissension mounted during a 9-16 stint that followed a postseason trip under then-interim coach Rich Bisaccia in the 2021 season.
The Chargers — who moved from San Diego to Los Angeles after the fourth season on the job for Tom Telesco — accumulated plenty of talent during his years on the job. He inherited quarterback Philip Rivers and tight end Antonio Gates, but also supervised drafts that saw players such as edge rusher Joey Bosa, safety Derwin James, offensive tackle Rashawn Slater.
Overall, Telesco drafted 23 multi-year starters and eight Pro Bowlers in 11 drafts.
Most importantly for the Chargers, he also drafted quarterback Justin Herbert in 2020. That allowed for a smooth transition to Rivers, who had been the club’s starting signal-caller for 14 seasons.
But despite having one of the league’s best quarterback situations for the long haul, the Chargers achieved remarkably little during Telesco’s reign. After a 63-21 throttling at the hands of the Raiders last month, the Chargers dismissed both Telesco and head coach Brandon Staley.
Las Vegas hopes it will be different as it pairs Telesco with Antonio Pierce, who parlayed a 5-4 finish as interim head coach into the full-time position.
