In Tom Telesco We Trust?

Feb 20, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; San Diego Chargers general manager Tom Telesco speaks during a press conference during the 2014 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

In Tom Telesco I Trust.

Before you read this post, let me say that Tom Telesco has done a great job with the team and has done a great job of bringing talent onto the roster. I love that we are competing again…

BUT….

the quote above imply that everything that Tom touches is gold. Everything that he does is awesome, but he has made his mistakes already. We can already look at Derek Cox as a poor free agent signing. That was also his most expensive signing of the offseason. He did let Shaun Phillips walk away for pennies. Phillips would have returned to the Chargers, but we were not interested in bringing him back. We let Aubrayo Franklin walk away in free agency and our biggest deficiency on defense was the nose tackle position. These were Tom Telesco decisions.

In the draft, he traded away an extra draft pick in order to move up in the draft to select Manti Te’o. Te’o very well could have fallen to the Chargers without making the trade and there were a few available middle linebackers at the time the trade was made. We could have picked up a quality middle backer with our selection. Kiko Alonso was selected the pick after our normal selection would have come up.

What has Tom Telesco done for the defense? Dwight Freeney didn’t work out. Trusting in Cam Thomas didn’t work out. He hit on an undrafted free agent and we are hoping that Manti Te’o and Steve Williams are able to develop into good players. Also hoping Tourek Williams can develop also.

I want to believe that everything that Tom touches is good, but there are some question marks. He has hit more than he has missed in his first season, but that doesn’t mean that we should stand up and applaud for every move that he makes. It seems a bit premature for that.

Tom Telesco has been great in his first year. Let’s see him do it again. Before I buy into the ‘In Telesco I Trust‘ movement, I need a repeat performance. Before we ran A.J. Smith out of town, he had a lot of success in the beginning as well.