I've never heard of Telesco - had to look him up. I see he was the Chargers GM for the last 10 yrs. Didn't turn them into winners over that span - so what does Prince Davis see in this guy?
A guy who has historically drafted better than Ziegler, Mayock, or Gruden would be my guess.
It was somewhat mentioned around the league that Telesco was the baby thrown out with the bathwater. He wasn't a bad GM, but the last few coaches the Chargers had were so bad, he got blamed for that. And in some ways it was his fault. With this Raiders team, the coach was hired before he was.
I know a guy who is a Chargers fan, his biggest complaint about Telesco was that he too often overpaid in contracts. Herbert's insane contract being the most obvious, but also Bosa, and a few others. He didn't create salary cap hell in LA, but he pushed the cap to the limit, frequently, leaving little wiggle room.
And what's all this QB nonsense talk with the Raiders? Why aren't they going to give O'Connell another year at the helm?
I think you said it yourself. Win, NOW, or we'll find someone better (or think, hope we can).
If I were in charge I'd most certainly give O'Connell another year. He was better than his record too, as in his first start he was informed the day before the game he would start (brilliant move by McDaniels). But as the season went on he improved quite a bit. His last four games he threw 9 TDs and 0 Ints. The criticism of him is that he's not mobile, and doesn't even move great within the pocket and needs to learn this. But he is a smart kid, and if you look back, there have been plenty of QBs like him that won games. He's not too different than Matt Ryan, Eli Manning, Ryan Tannehill, maybe Alex Smith (who was more fleet of foot). If he doesn't pan out, it looks like he won't be much worse than Matt Shaub, Josh Freeman, and once you realize that,
then you move on.
The other Raiders issue is they have a spotty OL. Perhaps slightly above average at run blocking, slightly below average at pass blocking. And they have little to no depth there. Plus, 2 guys will be FA in this off-season. So no matter who the QB is, this must be addressed.
So if I were the GM I'd be pouring FA money into the OL, DT (Raiders have 2 very average guys), and a top CB. Or draft here. If a QB I really liked fell to me in the 2nd to 4th round, I'd maybe pull the trigger.
But I'm old school and believe games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage. I also think it's not a bad idea to draft a QB that falls to you in the middle rounds every other year, or maybe every year, it's such a crap shoot.
No different for this upcoming season: The 5 or 6 projected 1st rounders will be expected to start day 1. They'll be told you have 2 yrs - maybe 3 - to turn the team around and start contending for a SB.
Agree. Maybe not to the SB, but as a serious contender. Just look at the Jaguars and Chargers today. If Lawerence can't get the Jags to the NFC Championship, and Herbert past the WC round in the next 2 years, even with all they hype around them, their teams will start to look forward, as absurd as that may seem to some.
If not, the owner will just cycle them out & start over with a new 1st rounder (e.g. the situation brewing in Chicago).
Trubisky, Fields, soon Williams...
Owners are no longer patient with their 1st round investments - they want & expect immediate results (see Tepper's tantrum last year. Lol).
Just as I posted before. I firmly believe most NFL owners are very much like Tepper, they just hold it in much better than he does. I also have said before it's very much like corporate America (having worked in corporate America!). Similar culture. Some run better than others, some more ruthless than others.
I think the days are long gone when a 1st rounder will sit the bench and learn the system & get acclimated to the NFL game. The situation with Mahomes sitting the bench his rookie year is probably the last will ever see with these top 1st rounders. It's now on the job training. Lol.
Agree. He and Love were the absolute anomaly. In the years to come at most, at the very most, you're going to see players like Josh Allen, who sat some 6 games before starting. Or Tua, who sat some of his first two years, or really split time with Fitzpatrick. It was a mix of both of injuries to both, but also Tua's early struggles.
In the near future (like, this coming season) I don't expect to see this level of "patience". I expect Williams, Daniels, Maye to all start week 1. I think it's quite possible McCarthey (huge risk), Nix (risk) and Penix (risk) also go in the 1st round, and may be expected to start sometime in year 1, maybe as soon as week 1, as insane as that sounds. Heck, toss in both Milton and Rattler to that mix. That's how desperate, and impatient teams and their owners are.
Just wait until 2026 when Arch Manning goes #1 overall. Or in 2032 when Ben Brady declares...
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