COSTA MESA, Calif. — Fired last December after an embarrassing loss to his new team, Tom Telesco needed to find ways to occupy his time after 11 seasons as general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers.
So, he helped coach defensive backs for his son Nick’s high school team at Corona del Mar. And usually not one for social media, Telesco even created an account on X to engage with fans. But his sabbatical from football didn’t last long. Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis hired the veteran personnel executive to pair with Antonio Pierce, who’s starting his first full season as head coach after leading the team to a surprising 5-4 record in an interim role last season.
This opening weekend of training camp is Groundhog Day for Telesco, as he finds himself standing in a familiar spot in the corner of the end zone watching practice at Jack Hammett Sports Complex, where the Chargers used to conduct training camp.
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The Raiders are one of five NFL teams holding training camp in the Los Angeles area this year, taking over the Chargers’ former location with the Bolts opening a new facility in El Segundo.
“I kind of knew this was going to be available,” quipped Telesco. “I’m the only one here that’s going to see their family during training camp but not during the season because they’re going to stay here.”
Telesco said he had no qualms about working for an AFC West rival after being let go by the Chargers.
“It definitely wasn’t a hard job to take,” Telesco said in an exclusive interview with FOX Sports. “When I left the Chargers, I knew how this business works. Usually, GMs don’t get a second chance. I had a great run, loved it. I worked as hard as I could at it and took us as far as I could. And now it’s time for somebody to go in and take it. But I have no regrets leaving. I had a great experience there but was fully ready for the next step.
“Here, you walk out of the draft room and there’s a picture of Al Davis here, Ron Wolf there. How about that for pressure? Their alumni network of people is a who’s who of the NFL. They are so involved, and our standards are high here. It’s a football-centric organization, and it’s been real fun to be a part of.”
Telesco has been blessed with elite quarterback play in his three decades as an NFL personnel exec, including having Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck with the Indianapolis Colts, and Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert with the Chargers.
In his first year in the desert, Telesco and Pierce will oversee a two-man competition at quarterback between second-year pro Aidan O’Connell and journeyman Gardner Minshew, who signed a two-year, $25 million deal (including $15 million guaranteed) with Las Vegas in free agency. Telesco said he liked what he saw from the 28-year-old Minshew with the Colts last season, along with his stops with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles.
“He just always kind of finds a way,” Telesco said. “In talking with people that have been in the league that coached him, you hear the same thing about what a great teammate he is. Players rally around him. He just has a moxie to his game, almost kind of plays like a Raiders quarterback would play. He has a great feel for it. And whenever he’s been given an opportunity, he’s produced at a winning level.”
Watching from afar, Telesco also liked what he saw from O’Connell during his rookie season with the Raiders.
“Watching him play against us, he just seemed so poised for a quarterback,” Telesco said. “He had two different coordinators last year, two different head coaches, so the situation he got put in was very difficult. And he showed great poise to handle that, which being a young quarterback is hard. So that really stood out to me.
“Then as a player, he’s got really good size, he’s got really good arm strength. He makes good decisions, and seeing him right now, he’s got some command to him — which, being a young player, you’ve got to kind of earn that from your teammates. But he’s got some command to him.”
As far as the competition goes, Pierce is responsible for the final decision, which will include significant input from new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. Both QBs have split reps in practice and will do so in preseason games so the Raiders can get a full evaluation.
However, Telesco knows what an elite quarterback looks like from his time with the Colts and the Chargers. And one thing he will take into consideration is how much the quarterbacks are working off the field so they can play faster, more decisively and more consistently on it.
“I’ve been lucky to be around some really, really good ones,” Telesco said. “We’ve had some guys on our staff that have been around really good quarterbacks, so you kind of know what you’re looking for. A lot of it is the preparation part of it, what they do when they’re not on the field. That’s just a big part of the position.
“The preparation during the week, the film work, being in the playbook and the processing on the field in real time is a big part of the job. [It’s] probably more important than size and arm strength. You’ve got to have the processing part of it.”
Telesco hired three coaches during his time with the Chargers — Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn and Brandon Staley — so he’s had experience working with different personalities. In Pierce, he sees a leader who not only can command players on the field, but also deftly manage the day-to-day operation of running a team.
And because of Pierce’s recent experience coaching and recruiting at Arizona State, Telesco said he was helpful during the draft process.
“He’s been really good,” Telesco said. “He’s got great vision. He knows what the identity is that he wants, not only for the team as a whole, but our offense, defense and special teams. His time management is really good.
“His attention to detail has been really good, as far as day to day in what we are doing. And then his interaction with his players and how he communicates his expectations for what he’s looking for, just really good. It’s been fun.”
Telesco and the Raiders received criticism nationally for taking tight end Brock Bowers at No. 13 overall a year after selecting Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer in the second round. However, Telesco said Bowers is a foundational talent and that the Raiders plan to use more two-tight end sets. Targets like Bowers and Mayer provide easier throws for developmental quarterbacks over the middle of the field.
“Yeah, I know tight ends usually don’t go that high in the draft,” Telesco said. “But I told the staff we have to make sure that we hit on this pick. There’s no guarantee anyone is going to be successful, so let’s take the highest odds on a player we can find. And when I look at the roster, there’s just been a lot of No. 1 picks that hadn’t panned out. So we’ve got to hit on this guy.
“We felt like with that pick at that time, this player has the highest odds chance at success, fully knowing that hey, we have Michael Mayer. He’s an excellent tight end and he’s on the way up. But we need to replenish the talent level on this team, and that was part of the process.”
Expectations for Brock Bowers and the Raiders?
Telesco said these three weeks of training camp are essential to come together and prepare to compete in a division with the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, led by the best player in the game in Patrick Mahomes. Telesco said he had looked into holding training camp at the team’s former site in Napa but that things did not come together there, which led to Costa Mesa and the opportunity it provides for the Raiders to get away and focus on the task at hand.
The Raiders managed to beat the Chiefs on Christmas Day last year. This season, they’ll have to prove that wasn’t a fluke.
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“We don’t have Patrick Mahomes as our quarterback, so we’ve got to really kind of build it,” Telesco said. “And maybe I’m saying that because I’m kind of new. I’m still getting used to everyone here — the players, the coaching staff and the support staff. And AP [Pierce] has been here a couple years, but this is really his first full year as the head coach.
“There are no shortcuts. I wish we could do everything today, but we’ve just got to keep staying after it.”
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.
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