Tom Telesco was certainly not expecting to see his pink slip after the 2024 season, but it ended up being his lone year in the general manager’s chair for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Telesco was hired almost immediately after the end of his 11-year tenure with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, where he struggled to build a consistent contender despite the talent on his rosters. However, Telesco was seen as a stabilizing veteran presence to balance out head coach Antonio Pierce, and the Raiders entrusted him to give the team the resources necessary to get the team moving in the right direction. While the 2024 draft class was a hit, other moves from Telesco such as the Gardner Minshew signing had a negative impact on the team.
The Raiders limped their way to a four-win campaign, and both Pierce and Telesco were gone just days after the season mercifully ended.
Telesco spoke out on what his time with the Raiders was like in a recent interview.
On the “Check the Mic” podcast, Telesco spoke about his time as general manager of the Chargers, but he threw out a few comments about his Raiders tenure that suggested he was disappointed by the way it ended.
“Big-picture-wise, we’re building this for the future,” Telesco said. “I’m thinking I’m gonna be there at least for a little while, the head coach will be there for a little while. Our infrastructure was not where it needed to be yet.”
In fairness, Telesco’s firing did come as somewhat of a surprise, with many assuming he would get a grace period under the circumstance that he had to solve the Raiders’ quarterback problem in 2025.
However, for reasons unknown, owner Mark Davis thought otherwise. Perhaps he wanted a more immediate timeline in the Raiders’ rebuild and was not thrilled about Telesco’s inability to land a quarterback pushing it back a year, or the presence of new minority owner Tom Brady and others giving him the opportunity to land an upgrade. Ultimately, Telesco became one of the rare general managers to be fired twice in their careers.
Needless to say, Telesco does not sound particularly thrilled about that fact.
