Although the Raiders kept Antonio Pierce, previous reports indicated he and interim GM Champ Kelly were not necessarily a package deal. That detail looks to prove critical now. The AFC West team is expected to go in a different GM direction.
Former Chargers GM Tom Telesco looks set to have an immediate second chance. The Raiders are likely to hire the 11-year GM veteran, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. Telesco worked as the Bolts’ GM from 2013-23 but was fired shortly after the Raiders’ 63-21 demolition late this season. With no other team interviewing Telesco for its GM vacancy, he is now set to team with Pierce in Las Vegas. The Raiders subsequently announced the hire.
This hiring comes after the team had Kelly sitting in on HC interviews ahead of the Pierce hire. While Kelly had established clear momentum and was certainly on the radar to join Pierce as the rare interim figure to keep a job, the Raiders will go with a more experienced candidate. This could well lead Kelly elsewhere, though The Athletic’s Tashan Reed notes he remains under contract. The well-respected front office figure only met with one other team — the Panthers — about its GM job. Carolina promoted Dan Morgan to fill that post Monday.
It would be a bit odd to see Telesco sign off on working with perhaps his top competition for this job, so it bears monitoring to see if Kelly will remain with the Raiders.
For Telesco, this will provide a chance to start over after his Philip Rivers– and Justin Herbert-centered rosters repeatedly ran into obstacles in Southern California. Injury issues routinely plagued the Chargers during the 2010s and 2020s, though their rosters always always generated praise coming into seasons. Telesco will now work with another first-time HC. Hiring only rookie HCs during his run with the Chargers (Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn, Brandon Staley), Telesco’s teams only qualified for three playoff fields in his 11-year run.
Telesco, 51, came in for a second Raiders interview Monday. That meeting may have changed the team’s thinking. The longtime Chargers front office leader will bring more than 30 years of NFL experience to Las Vegas. Beginning his career as a Bills intern during Bill Polian‘s GM run, Telesco followed the future Hall of Famer to Charlotte and then Indianapolis. With the Colts, Telesco worked his way up to director of player personnel. He held that title for six years, being with the team during its Super Bowl XLI win and its Super Bowl XLIV loss three years later. A year after the Colts fired Polian and hired Ryan Grigson, Teleseco received his GM opportunity and became one of the longer-serving true GMs entering this past season.
With the Chargers, Telesco gave Rivers Pro Bowl pieces in the late 2010s. He drafted Keenan Allen in the 2013 third round and added Joey Bosa and Derwin James in 2016 and ’18, respectively. Telesco added Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater in the 2021 first round as well. He excelled on the extension front, giving new deals to Melvin Ingram — ahead of the veteran’s Pro Bowl years — along with Allen, Bosa, James and Mike Williams. Telesco also signed Austin Ekeler to what became one of the best running back deals in recent memory, a four-year, $24.5MM pact that locked in the passing-down dynamo before back-to-back seasons leading the NFL in touchdowns.
Telesco landing Herbert at No. 6 overall may be his defining GM move, and the decision-maker gave the next Chargers GM a boost by extending Herbert through 2029 last summer. Herbert has become one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, quickly showing that form. However, Telesco’s Staley hire — and the litany of injuries to plague the Bolts — have restricted the prodigious passer. The Chargers are just 1-for-4 in playoff appearances with Herbert, and the lone cameo resulted in a 27-point wild-card collapse in Jacksonville. Rather than fire Staley and go after Sean Payton — long rumored as interested in the job — Telesco (and Chargers ownership) retained Staley. This preceded the December firings of the Bolts’ HC and GM.
Pairing Pierce with a seasoned GM makes sense. Of the candidates the Raiders interviewed, Telesco is the only one with experience as a full-time GM. Mark Davis spoke of the possibility of bringing in a football ops-type presence to lead the way. With Telesco being hired, he might well be that figure to work alongside the owner and head coach.
Kelly and Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds were believed to be the other finalists, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones. Dodds and Kelly were believed to be the frontrunners recently, Reed adds, indicating the team was leery about putting Pierce with a first-time GM. Dodds interviewed for the Las Vegas GM job in 2022 and was believed to have made a good impression on Davis. It is unsurprising the longtime Indianapolis exec was again in this race until the end. While Dodds figures to stay in his current post, it will be interesting to see if Kelly — hired to be Dave Ziegler‘s assistant GM in 2022 and taking over as interim GM in November — ends up elsewhere.
Given Pierce’s limited coaching background, it should be expected it will be Telesco making the final calls regarding the team’s 53-man roster. While Josh McDaniels was widely believed to be calling the shots in Vegas during his short HC tenure, Davis emphasized it was Ziegler controlling the roster. The Raiders’ coordinator hires will be the next dominoes to fall. While the team has blocked DC Patrick Graham from making lateral moves, it will be interesting to see if the HC carousel regular will be OK working for a head coach with considerably less experience.
For now, Telesco will step into a situation that differs from his Chargers setup. Rivers was entering his eighth season as a starter when Telesco took over in 2013. With the Dolphins selecting Tua Tagovailoa fifth overall in 2020, Herbert was available. The Raiders are unlikely to have comparably easy access to a top-tier QB talent this offseason, holding the No. 13 overall pick after an 8-9 season. That will be the top roster need for Telesco, who will join Pierce in assembling a coaching staff.
Somebody say something….
Let’s see how he does with the draft.
We have ten years of how he does with it, not good.
He’s good in the 1st round but one of the worst in 2-7. Very weird
Which is funny to say because his last first round pick was taking Johnston instead of Zay Flowers.
He only messed up 2 out of 11, maybe three it’s pending.
No NFL GM should get recognition for being “good in the 1st round.”
I didn’t say he was best but certainly not the worst Matt Millen is giving you a call
If you were a Raiders fan for the past 5 years or so, you wouldn’t be saying that.
A “Commitment to Excellence” has transformed into hiring individuals the Raiders can beat by 42 points? I’m not sure Al Davis would approve.
They beat Staley, not TT.
Who was TT’s choice and who built the roster so…
No doubt that Staley was the one that got TT fired, but the roster wasn’t bad. Pre-season, I thought SD had twice the roster that the Raiders did.
What was the Chargers overall record with him as GM? Lots of big names, but I don’t remember too many division titles to show for it.
I would say it has to do more with the coaches, he selected. he wasn’t terrible at drafting his second round picks always suck. Every coach he hired is out of the nfl. His first and third rounders are usually gems and he has signed some good udfas
Like 15 games under .500. I’ve never seen anything like this. A failed GM from a rival that you actually beat by 42 and got fired, you hire immediately. It’s Josh McDaniels all over again (they beat his Broncos similarly when he got fired and hired him despite seeing that in their own division).
That’s what I thought, thanks!
The team quit on staley doesn’t mean it’s a bad team, you can say the same thing about the raiders and McDaniels. Staley wouldn’t give up play calling duties and was calling out the team for not executing correctly, and if you watched that game the chargers clearly gave up looked like they were stretching.
Go through the Chargr roster and tell me how many of those players are going to be part of the solution there for the next regime. The offensive line is bad. Maybe one long term starter tehre. The defensive line’s talent is tied up in the oldest guys, one of which is and always has been injury prone. The secondary is mediocre with an overpaid safety who is a glorified LB who can’t cover. The actual LBs suck. The best receiver is the guy he took in his very first draft, and the guys he’s drafted to take over for him, Williams and Johnson, kind of suck too. That’s not even getting into the atrocious depth on the team that has always been an issue because Telesco always has missed on his later picks. But yep, lots of talent there to work with.
I didn’t know Stevie Johnson was still on the team. the defensive line isn’t old, the offensive line isn’t terrible the problem is injuries and if you think Derwin James is a linebacker your dumb.
He didn’t draft Stevie Johnson, so why are you even bringing him up? You think those offensive linemen outside of Slater are good? As far as Derwin James, I’m an FSU fan. He’s been a liability in coverage since college. A better version of Jamal Adams, and he made him the highest paid safety in football. Only three first rounders have signed second contracts. That says it all. Couple that with everyone’s acknowledgement that he sucks in later rounds, what are we talking about? I get you’re a fan and are trying to spit shine this, but this is bad for Raider fans. They should be used to it under Mark Davis. He’s an idiot.
Two words on the division titles: Peyton. Mahomes.
SD definitely played KC as tough as any other team did during Telesco’s tenure.
Do you hold the other GM candidates to the same bar? Or just him?
Yikes, what a choice. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember a second player in recent years the Chargers drafted outside of the first round and bothered to keep past his rookie contract. And that first player is Easton Stick.
Keenan Allen
Wow, Easton Stick really might be the only one in the last decade.
Stick is still on his rookie deal. Trey Pipkins got a new deal after doing nothing for 3 years and then finally turning into an arguably average RT in year 4. It’s a short list for sure.
Stick is not still on his rookie deal. He was drafted in 2019. He signed a one year deal last offseason.
I can list a lot but not going to waste my time
I missed Pipkins. I don’t think I missed a lot.
Parham, Davis.
Two undrafted guys.
He doesn’t have a bad track record with first round picks and udfas. 2 out of 11 didn’t get the fifth picked, but they did get a second contract elsewhere. He does play it safe and likes character guys, but he’s not the worst the gm candidate out there.
He’s a deeply uninspired pick with a fairly bad draft track record and a cap disaster he just left behind in the last few weeks.
Only three players have signed second contracts. That speaks for itself.
As a Chargers fan this is the best news I’ve heard in a while.
Aren’t the Chargers also in bad cap shape as well? I see why you like the news.
50 million over the cap, no extra draft picks and a paper-thin roster. I’m thrilled. I’d assumed there was no way he’d actually get hired and the interview was just being conducted to collect intel on the Chargers’ plans.
He’s done a much better jobs b drafting than the last two Raider regimes
Maybe in the first round.
How so when their rosters are better?
Did the Chargers agree to pay his salary? Only explanation I can come up with.
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Leave it to Moron Mark to screw up the easiest tasks.
geoffb1982 — If you could please elaborate on how the hiring of a GM/HC is the easiest of task and how exactly Mark Davis screwed this easy challenge up.
He hired a rookie head coach who is going to need at least three years to learn how to coach. The team is currently sitting with $36 million in cap space and some clear and desperate needs to fill. There is also talk that the operational structure has not been completed at this time.
I am honestly interested in hearing how the GM search should have been completed and who should have been hired. Please also include the organizational vision for the next year and five years. Next year is important in support of a rookie HC and possibly a rookie QB, which would lead to a five year plan.
You always knew the Raiders were going to do some Raiders s****.
Mark was on a bender.
This is about as good as it was gonna get .. an experienced GM to pair with your green head coach
Say what you will about the chargers lack of success, but I can assure you it wasn’t because of on field talent.. Every year the Chargers were favored to make the playoffs .. They easily have more talent on Defense than raiders have as a team .. you got two studs (Adams and Crosby) a handful of B+ players .. T.T has drafted some studs and taken some big swings in FA over the years.. he did his job .. he acquired top end talent ..
And seriously.. seriously .. Raiders fans should know better (Josh Jacobs is your only “hit” in forever).. Hitting on first round picks isn’t overrated.. it’s a must ..
I’d say Telesco on his own is…a mixed bag. I actually considered him a bad G.M. outright until recently. I have to admit that the last few years he did add a lot of talent to the team, which floundered under Staley’s terrible coaching. Telesco underachieved, and made some bad personnel moves (the offensive line has been a notable misadventure for years-somebody brought up Trey Pipkins, who should have never been anyone’s starter, let alone the horde of other misfires that competed with him over the years), but has also had some successes (Bosa, obviously, and Ekeler, despite his attempts to run him out).
I’d say that, at the end of the day, Telesco probably would have been fired by 80-90% of the owners in the league after his first years, but was buoyed by the lethargy of the Spanos family and their utter disinterest in competing, plus the positive production of high level quarterbacking of Rivers and Herbert. Having a great quarterback will always make your future look brighter. Telesco did manage to find talent, though, despite some other failures, so he’s not utterly worthless. Telesco was the G.M., and bore responsibility for a lot of what happened (particularly the awful Staley hire), but you do also have to consider the negative effect that bad ownership has on a franchise as well, in case it did help make him worse.
With all of this considered, this definitely seems like a hire for experience, not a hire for effect. It does make one wonder whether having Telesco as a consultant to Kelly as a G.M. would have been an alternative to consider, if that were acceptable to both parties. The fact that Kelly only interviewed with one other team-a team that has since hired a G.M.-seems that he was expecting to stay on with the Raiders. Whether that expectation was to stay as the headman or an assistant is the real question. I don’t know how many other teams requested to interview him for their top position, but that number could indicate an answer there.
Whether that expectation was to stay as the headman or an assistant is the real question.
========================
I’m hoping that Kelly stays. He might just need to expand his resume a little, like with a winning Raiders team. Being part of a turn-around will make him much more attractive.