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…