Raiders have already screwed up Antonio Pierce hire with GM addition

After sinking in the AFC West doldrums under Josh McDaniels, the Las Vegas Raiders locker room made it clear that they were no longer going to put up with the failed head coach's draconian antics. Josh McDaniels was out, just as he was in Denver years ago, and the ever-popular Antonio Pierce replaced him. It didn't take long for Pierce to win over so many supporters within the building that the Raiders organization hired him as the permanent head coach.

Since appointing Pierce to the job, the Raiders have seemingly done everything possible to support the former linebacker's success. They even brought former Cincinnati Bengals head man Marvin Lewis on board Pierce's coaching staff.

Unfortunately, the Raiders may have undone that hard work by closing in on hiring a familiar face from the AFC West as their next general manager to work alongside Pierce. Per the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, "all signs point to" former Los Angeles Chargers general manager Tom Telesco joining Las Vegas next.

On Monday night, the Raiders officially announced the hiring of Telesco, who now becomes just the fifth general manager in the franchise's history.

New Raiders GM Tom Telesco struggled to win with the rival Chargers

It's a little strange to see Rapoport go out of his way to talk up Telesco instead of being neutral. Telesco's success in building the Chargers roster is greatly exaggerated, especially since less than handful of his draft picks after the first round were even given extensions, meaning the organization quickly saw them as not being rosterable to them.

Telesco's list of whiffs is more extensive than his list of hits, and at no point under his reign did the Chargers win the AFC West. He was GM of the team from 2013 to 2023, so for the Chargers to have that little success is a major indictment. Furthermore, Telesco had Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert during his decade with the team, including some exceptional years from the former - a Chargers icon. Rivers quarterbacked them in a 12-win season in 2018 - one of the only two times Telesco's Chargers made the playoffs and the only time they bested a 10-7 record. The Chargers held a 2-3 record in the playoffs under Telesco and never advanced further than the Divisional Round.

That's the general manager the Raiders are hiring. It's an underwhelming hire, to be honest, as Telesco doesn't seem to bring fresh ideas nor does he seem to be the kind of GM with enough of a track record of success in the draft to be a strong partner for a new head coach. Perhaps Telesco will prove doubters wrong, but, well, he does have a lot to prove.