Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis hired Tom Telesco to be his team’s general manager back in January. Since joining Sin City’s staff, Telesco has added a free agency class headlined by Christian Wilkins, a draft class headlined by Brock Bowers, and pickups such as K’Lavon Chaisson since the season’s start.
Already, Telesco’s tenure has had no shortage of highlights during his short time with the Raiders. Beyond the additions of Wilkins and Bowers, Las Vegas’ general manager has given the team promising rookies Jackson Powers-Johnson and D.J. Glaze. Telesco also managed to shed the entirety of soon-to-be 32-year-old Davante Adams’ contract while gaining a third-rounder in the process.
There are, however, fair criticisms as well.
Quarterback was the Raiders biggest position of need heading into the 2024 offseason. In the meantime, the only thing that was done in effort to fix this was signing journeyman Gardner Minshew. Unsurprisingly, quarterback remains the biggest position of need in Las Vegas.
It’s also fair to critique Telesco’s mishandling of the running back situation. Instead of working with first-team All-Pro Josh Jacobs on a multi-year contract, Telesco decided Zamir White would be his replacement after Jacobs asked for a better offer.
Through nine weeks with the Green Bay Packers, Jacobs has the third-most rushing yards league-wide with 762 and the second-most yards after contact with 590. Jacobs’ 86.9 rushing grade via Pro Football Focus ranks fifth-highest.
The Raiders, in comparison, have totaled 70 less rushing yards as a team than Jacobs has this season.
All things considered, both the good and the bad, what letter grade does Tom Telesco deserve thus far? Raider Nation was asked that question on Monday, and they responded.
What letter grade does first-year Las Vegas Raiders GM Tom Telesco deserve up to this point?
Of those who answered this question, the majority came to a consensus.
52.4% of fans feel Telesco deserves a ‘B’ based on everything he’s accomplished thus far. 21.8% of those who answered give him a ‘C’ while 10% think he’s deserving of a ‘D’ or an ‘F’. There are fans who feel Telesco should be given an ‘A’, too – 15.9%, to be exact.
It should be mentioned that, while Telesco has failed to get the Raiders a serviceable quarterback, it may not be his own fault. Las Vegas’ head coach Antonio Pierce had the utmost trust in Aidan O’Connell heading into the offseason, noting that O’Connell “earned the right to go out there and take the first snap” in May.
In July, Piece doubled-down on the confidence he had in his young signal caller. “It’s Aidan O’Connell’s job right now,” he stated.
These events indicate Telesco went into his first day as the Raiders general manager with his head coach believing there was no reason to chase a franchise quarterback, due to the belief of already having one. Telesco, who told Mark Davis he would choose Pierce as his head coach if hired as the team’s general manager, trusted the judgment of that same coach.
Minshew’s contract aligns with this as well. With an average salary of $12.5 million, Minshew stands as the 21st-highest paid quarterback annually. His deal isn’t one a player receives when they’re brought in to be a club’s sure-fired starting signal caller.
In any event, Telesco will head into the 2025 offseason knowing his team is in need of a quarterback. That will be the time to judge him on that front.
Do you agree with Raider Nation’s letter grade for Telesco up to this point?
*Top Photo: Getty Images
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