As a Raiders fan, I’d love to hear more details on this.
From the outside, it seemed like the Chargers had a very good roster of drafted and free agent players, and it was “bad luck” (lots of injuries) or “bad coaching“ that has caused them to underachieve.
What’s your take? Thanks
Well, Telesco was there for 11 seasons. IMO it is unreasonable to blame generally poor results on:
- Poor coaching across 3 different head coaches, especially since Telesco was involved in hiring those head coaches
- Injuries across an 11 season sample... yes, perhaps a particular season or two were drastically affected by injuries, but that isn't an excuse for an 11 season sample, particularly since we know every team suffers injuries
Bottom line - Team Performance
- In 11 seasons before Telesco (2002-2012):
- 103-73 (0.585) regular season record - average of 9.4 wins and 6.6 losses per season
- 3-5 (0.375) postseason record; made the playoffs 5 times (45%)
- 42-24 (0.636) division record; 5 division titles (45%)
- 2 losing seasons (2003, 2012) - both resulted in firing the head coach; the first one occurred in GM Smith's first season as GM, so he kept his job... but he lost it after 2012
- In Telesco's 11 seasons (2013-2023):
- 84-95 (0.469) regular season record - average of 7.6 wins and 8.6 losses per season
- 2-3 (0.400) postseason record; made the playoffs 3 times (27%)
- 23-43 (0.348) division record; 0 division titles (0%)
- 5 losing seasons (2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2023) - resulting in 3 fired head coaches and finally Telesco's firing
It's not like the Chargers were a model NFL franchise before Telesco, but they were considerably worse in his tenure. And consider that in 2013, only 5 offensive/defensive starters were acquired by Telesco, so his influence on that roster was modest at best. That team was 9-7 in the regular season, 4-2 in the division, and 1-1 in the playoffs. Take that season away from Telesco's record, and it just increases the gaps.
His drafting was considerably overrated.
- In recent days in the media reports about him interviewing with and then being hired by the Raiders, there were frequent statements about him having a strong draft track record. That is false. Over the past 5 years, there have been articles by the Athletic, Football Outsiders, and PFF that compared draft records, and the Chargers have consistently been near the bottom of the league in draft return.
- To date, the Chargers have only signed 8 of the players drafted by Telesco in his first 8 draft classes to a second contract. I don't know how that compares, but I suspect it is below average at best.
- Telesco never traded down in the draft, but he traded up 4 times -- 3 times for a LB and 1 time for a RB. Among them, only RB Gordon was with the team more than 4 seasons, and he was gone after his 5th. This also shows how little Telesco grasps or cares about positional value.
His free agency decisions were mixed at best. I suspect he was below average at free agent results, especially after the recent J.C. Jackson fiasco, but I don't know where to find comparison data.
And now he has left the Chargers in the worst cap situation in franchise history.
In fairness, I posted this in the Chargers thread recently:
I expect Telesco to be a bad GM for the Raiders, as he was for the Chargers. There have been multiple media reports on this praising Telesco's talent evaluation, which is laughable based on Chargers draft results.
That said, there are two primary reasons he could be better:
- He was a first time GM with the Chargers, and I think he was at least a bit worse in his early years than in his later years. He certainly has an opportunity to learn from the 11 years he spent with the Chargers and apply some improvements. I think the fact that he is moving straight from one GM job to the other without a break makes it harder for him to really reflect on his Chargers performance and identify areas to change.
- It is possible that his poor performance with the Chargers was caused in large part by interference from President of Football Operations John Spanos, the owner's son. It's hard for fans to know how to assign credit/blame between them, since Telesco may have merely been the face of the front office without being the actual driver. To the extent that is true, if the Raiders don't have a similar level of interference, Telesco could perform better.
I can tell you that all Chargers fans I know and interact with online were happy to see him go, feeling that was long overdue, and then even happier to see him hired by the Raiders. Good luck.