Tom Telesco: I don’t think a lot about my job security

NFL Combine - Day 2
Getty Images

Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco’s ninth year on the job ended without a trip to the postseason and that makes it seven times that the Chargers have fallen short of the playoffs during his tenure.

Telesco was asked why the team has habitually been out of the playoffs over the course of his tenure and said he’s “not really concerned with past years” because he saw this year as “a beginning more than anything else” due to head coach Brandon Staley’s arrival. He called the year an “exciting start” to Staley’s time with the team and that he loves “the identity” that Staley has given the Chargers.

Exciting or not, the inability to advance to the playoffs with a roster that includes players like quarterback Justin Herbert, defensive end Joey Bosa, and wide receiver Keenan Allen led to a question about whether Telesco felt he was on the hot seat heading into Year 10 with the team.

“I don’t think a lot about job security,” Telesco said.

Telesco said he understands outside frustration with the team missing the playoffs so often and that he believes they’ve been aggressive in trying to get the team where it wants to go. He also said he doesn’t believe in “windows” when it comes to making a run with the players listed above, but others might not feel the same way if the third season of Herbert’s career passes without a playoff berth.

31 responses to “Tom Telesco: I don’t think a lot about my job security

  1. Me neither, but thankfully I’m self-employed. Seriously though, I think their problem has been more coaching related than drafting, free agents, etc. I mean, that roster has some real studs. Almost criminal not to get a Wild Card spot with that crew of men.

  2. I don’t get why fans think these multi-millionaire gms and coaches are worried about getting canned. In some cases they’ve mades tens of millions of dollars.

    They’ll be okay if they’re fired.

  3. I have yet to ever hear a General Manager in any sport ever say, “yeah, I have woefully underperformed. I’m just not very good at what I’m supposed to be doing, which is obvious to everyone except the person who should fire me and I’ve essentially stolen the money I’ve been given. The owner must be an imbecile to continue employing me, but I’m going to keep coming here and pile- driving the organization into irrelevance until they change the locks on the front door.” Even Matt Millen thought he was doing a good job……..

  4. Tom Telesco is in the upper half of GM’s in the league.

    If he was somehow available he would be the top name on the lists of teams looking for a GM now.

  5. What a cool trade it’d be to swap Aaron Rodgers for Justin Herbert straight up. Aaron gets to go back to play in sunny California and instantly boost Chargers and Packers gets a long term prospect.

  6. Herbie had 5000yds and 38tds. NO PLAYOFFS. They can’t expect that every year. Telesco has never won the division. He is the whipping boy for the Spanos to keep the heat off the sons who shouldn’t be involved in the GM duties or running the origination. Both sons are heavily involved and under-qualified. Nepotism is a great thing.

  7. QBs have a high bust rate.
    They got lucky with Herbert.
    What if he was as effective as … Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Mitch Trubisky …

    As for Bosa, he is a great player but also a very high draft pick (3rd). If your team stinks you have access to very high picks, so taking a highly regarded player is a no brainer.

    I’m more interested in how the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th round picks go for 5 + years.

    If Herbert had turned out to be so-so then maybe he’d be fired by now. I’m not saying he’s a bad GM, but I don’t see any proof he’s a good one either. There are worse and there are better.

  8. He can only draft and suggest. When coaches decide to “Riverboat” and go for 4th downs like there were no consequences, the trouble begins. I like Staley (to a point) but he’d better adjust his Riverboatin’ or he’ll be rafting with a cane pole soon enough.

  9. Outsiders don’t understand that he has no worries because Spanos is to cheap to fire him.

  10. These clowns make laugh! Do they really think we’re this stupid. Everybody worrys about their job security. Rich or poor if you work for somebody else you have no job security.

  11. I guess the GM is happy with bizarre decisions from the head coach that literally cost them an appearance in the playoffs. 9 years of futility and he keeps chugging along. One would think he has a job in middle management of a fortune 500 company where he can hide. Unreal.

  12. Telesco is safe. He drafted Herbert, arguably the best QB drafted in years, with the exception of Mahomes. He also drafted Bosa and James, two all-pro defensive players.

    IF it was Telesco that chose the last few Head Coaches, then the Chargers need to find someone else to decide who the next coach will be.

  13. Telesco fielded a good team this year, talent-wise. They underachieved though and that is on the coaching staff.

  14. So he hires Staley and the reason they missed playoffs was due to the pathetic defense of which Staley was supposedly a good DC for the Rams. That and the horrible right side of the O line is what sunk them. Does not help the drafts of such ‘greats’ Manti Teo and Jerry Tillery were/are journeymen at best. You wasted a prime year of Justin Herbert’s rookie contract, no excuses.

  15. It really amazes me as a Dolphins fan with all the Herbert instead of the Tua talk. In the meantime, neither team went to the Playoffs and both just missed by a game. The difference is Herbert went to a top 10 Offense and Tua went to the 31st ranked. This really reminds me of Dan Marino’s career… Herbert will put up accolade numbers and never do a thing for a Championship because the Front Office could not get all the roster parts working at the same time. Too bad for both of them. The Bengals built for Burrow and Jags are inept, so Lawrence will suffer like Tua. It is tough to say who the best young QB will be? It depends on what organization they go to. Josh Allen was terrible until the Bills gave him support. Now he is a Stud and will be for a while.

  16. So the team is full of talent and didn’t make the playoffs and they’re criticizing the GM? Sounds like a coaching problem to me.

  17. A defense coach and yet his defense plays soft and without an attitude. The team would have made the playoffs but the coach threw away a victory over Kansas City by passing on field goals.

  18. Unless he is on the headset with his head coach and telling him what plays to run and to pay attention to the analytics instead of common sense, it appears that the GM has stocked the cupboards with good enough players. I fail to see why he should be worried. If he were fired, he’d be hired in 30 seconds by someone else.

  19. The Chargers are going to be fine. It’s a QB league, and Herbert is a top ten QB. Brady, Mahomes, and Peyton have won 6 of the last seven super bowls. Last year they had a rookie QB, and this year he’s a second-year guy with a new coach. He’ll continue to improve, and the Chargers chances will also improve. The Chargers and Cowboys ended up disappointed, but they are both good teams. No changes necessary. Telesco is fine. He’ll fix what needs to be fixed.

  20. 174eva says:
    January 20, 2022 at 2:39 pm
    Tom Telesco is in the upper half of GM’s in the league.

    If he was somehow available he would be the top name on the lists of teams looking for a GM now.
    ————————————————————————————————————
    That is an interesting assessment. In his 9 years as GM, the Chargers have gone 69-76 with 2 playoff appearances. In contrast, during the Chargers’ previous 9 years under A.J. Smith, they went 91-53 with 5 playoff appearances. Telesco’s record as GM is not impressive.

  21. Tom Telesco is in the upper half of GM’s in the league.

    If he was somehow available he would be the top name on the lists of teams looking for a GM now.
    ————————————————————————————————————
    That is an interesting assessment. In his 9 years as GM, the Chargers have gone 69-76 with 2 playoff appearances. In contrast, during the Chargers’ previous 9 years under A.J. Smith, they went 91-53 with 5 playoff appearances. Telesco’s record as GM is not impressive.
    __________________________________________________________________________________

    You are correct A. J. Smith had a great talent evaluating staff and his teams also were stacked with talent.

    I was not comparing him with Smith but I am comparing him with the rest of the GM’s in the league.

    Telesco consisting fields teams stacked with talent year after year. Their downfall is choosing the head coach and I don’t know how much influence the Spanos family has in that decision.

    Both Mike McCoy (now out of the league) and Anthony Lynn both failed badly as HC’s.
    If it was Telesco’s decision only to hire those guys then he needs help in the future picking the HC.

    Hopefully for his sake Brandon Staley will fair better.

  22. AJ Smith didn’t get a single offer after he was fired, neither will Coupon Tom when he’s fired.

  23. Chargers fan here. The HC this season made some bad decisions on downs especially going for it. He needs to score points! That crap drives me nuts. Look at Baltimore.How did there play calling go? Same results. Quit trying to be cute in your first year. Your job depends on it. Sssshhhhh.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.