On December 14, 2024, the LA Chargers allowed the most points in franchise history in a 63-21 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. The players on the field visibly gave up on their head coach, Brandon Staley, and as a result he was fired alongside general manager Tom Telesco the next morning.
Just over one month later, the Raiders made the shocking decision to hire the very same general manager that they helped get fired. In what feels like a fever dream for Chargers fans, Telesco has reportedly been hired as the next GM of the Raiders, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
Tom Telesco has a close look at the #Raiders roster twice a year. This should be a smooth transition.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 23, 2024
His work in the draft for the #Chargers is well-chronicled. Now, he switches sides and is expected to land in Las Vegas. https://t.co/Mz2mb61RpY
Raiders hire former Chargers GM Tom Telesco in a shocking, yet hilarious, move
This is an objectively hilarious outcome for fans of the LA Chargers. For years fans have been calling for Telesco to be fired by the Bolts and it took a historic loss in a disappointing season for it to happen. If the Miami Dolphins didn't pass on Justin Herbert back in 2020 then Telesco probably would have gotten the boot in 2021 instead of getting to hire a third head coach.
The fact that the Raiders talked themselves into Telesco is comedy gold for Chargers fans. There has been this misconstrued take that Telesco has drafted superstars in the NFL Draft and consistently crafted one of the best rosters in the entire sport. That view, though, was always flawed.
Telesco drafted star players in the first round, sure, but it isn't hard to do that when Herbert falls in your lap, Derwin James falls outside the top 10 despite being projected to go there, and you have the third overall pick to take Joey Bosa.
The real issue in Telesco's roster building was his middle-to-late-round picks. Outside of Keenan Allen (in Telesco's first-ever draft) the Chargers never drafted a true blue-chip player who contributed for multiple seasons outside of the first two rounds.
Just look at Telesco's track record in the NFL Draft since 2019. It is actually asinine how bad not only the draft picks look, but even the signings. J.C. Jackson, Bryan Bulaga, Chris Harris, Linval Joseph, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Eric Kendricks, Trai Turner. All guys the team signed or traded for that flopped.
The Chargers made the playoffs three times in Telesco's 11 seasons as GM and won two playoff games. In that span, the team had Philip Rivers or Herbert as its quarterback. The Chargers consistently underperformed and the lack of depth always held the team back.
Telesco, unarguably, did a bad job as the general manager of the Chargers. Yet because he selected a few big names that fell into his lap, the Raiders are deciding to take a chance on him to steer the ship for the next however many years.
Knowing Telesco (and the short turnaround time in Vegas in recent years), this partnership won't last long. Chargers fans need to cherish it while it lasts.