By Tashan Reed, Vic Tafur and Daniel Popper
The Las Vegas Raiders are hiring former Los Angeles Chargers general manager Tom Telesco in the same role, the team announced Tuesday.
Last month, owner Mark Davis told The Athletic that he was nervous about the idea of pairing a first-time head coach with a first-time general manager. The last time the Raiders had that setup came when former GM Reggie McKenzie hired former head coach Dennis Allen in 2012. The result was Allen went 8-28 and got fired four games into his third season on the job.
“So, I had a rookie GM and a rookie head coach,” Davis said. “We didn’t have a great football mind in the building to help them. That’s something I’ve learned throughout the process.”
With that being said, Davis entered this offseason with an effort to keep his “mind open” about potential candidates. Of the six candidates he interviewed for the GM job, five of them had no previous GM experience. Ultimately, however, Davis landed on the one who did: Telesco.
Tom Telesco has been named General Manager of the Las Vegas Raiders 🏴☠️
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) January 24, 2024
As recently as last week, Davis’ choice seemed to be between interim GM Champ Kelly and Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds, according to league sources. After making the hire of Antonio Pierce as head coach official last Friday, however, Davis grew wary of pairing the first-time head coach with a first-time GM.
He’d planned to hire a GM before making a head coach hire, but he wound up making up his mind about Pierce while still being undecided about who would lead the personnel department. Davis took the weekend to think, brought Telesco in for a second interview on Monday and hired him Tuesday.
The Raiders seem to be prioritizing experience with this hire, and in that sense, they found a desirable new general manager in Telesco to pair with Pierce.
Telesco spent the past 11 seasons running the Chargers personnel department. That stint ultimately ended in December because of a lack of results. Telesco made the playoffs three times and won two postseason games, never advancing past the divisional round. He did, however, prove himself as a solid talent evaluator. He drafted Keenan Allen, Joey Bosa, Derwin James, Hunter Henry, Rashawn Slater, Tuli Tuipulotu and, of course, Justin Herbert. He signed Austin Ekeler as an undrafted free agent. He signed Casey Hayward in free agency, and Hayward went on to become a two-time All-Pro. He traded for Khalil Mack.
He also had his whiffs, like Jerry Tillery and Tre’ McKitty in the draft and J.C. Jackson and Bryan Bulaga in free agency. His shortcomings mostly revolved around two things: Not prioritizing the offensive line and failing to build depth, particularly in the later rounds of the draft. A fresh start under different ownership should be revitalizing. Telesco shepherded the Chargers through relocation and a franchise quarterback change, and there is not much in the league he has not seen in his 33 seasons.
Telesco is the Raiders’ fourth GM since Davis took over as owner for his late father Al Davis in 2011. The franchise has been plagued for over a decade by draft missteps, poor free-agent signings and botched trades. The onus for putting that to an end now falls on his shoulders.
Kelly is still under contract. Currently, the Chargers and New England Patriots are the only two teams with GM vacancies and he hasn’t interviewed for either position. If Telesco wants Kelly on staff and Kelly wants to stay, he could remain part of the franchise in 2024.
Required reading
(Photo: Paul Bersebach / MediaNews Group / Orange County Register via Getty Images)