Las Vegas Raiders fire general manager Tom Telesco after just one year

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Las Vegas Raiders continued their house cleaning Thursday, firing general manager Tom Telesco just two days after dismissing coach Antonio Pierce.

The moves took place after the Raiders went 4-13 this season.

“We appreciate his efforts in helping build a foundation for the future,” the club said in a statement. “We wish Tom and his family all the best.”

The Raiders will become just the second franchise in the Super Bowl era to enter a season three years in a row with a new GM and coach. Coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler were in charge to open the 2023 season. The Cleveland Browns in 2012-14 are the other club to hold such a distinction.

Owner Mark Davis had said Telesco and Pierce would be evaluated separately, and the GM’s firing was the more surprising of the two. Telesco had a strong draft last April in which he landed in the first three rounds an AP Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate in Brock Bowers and two starting offensive linemen.

But Telesco didn’t draft or sign the franchise-changing quarterback the Raiders so badly need. He instead signed journeyman Gardner Minshew to a two-year, $25 million contract. Minshew won the starting job in training camp, but then lost it to Aidan O’Connell after five weeks.

How much of that was Telesco’s fault is questionable. The top six quarterbacks in the draft went off the board by the time Las Vegas selected at No. 13, and there were no guarantees on the free-agent market. But Telesco also doesn’t have a history of being aggressive with draft-day trades, so the Raiders never budged from their pecking order.

This year, minority owner Tom Brady is expected to have more of a say in operations.

The Raiders hired Telesco after he was let go by the Los Angeles Chargers, where he held the same position for 11 years.

He and Pierce came in at about the same time, though Pierce already was in the building, having been promoted to interim head coach midway through the 2023 season. Pierce was named the full-time coach after going 5-4.

So now the Raiders will have two searches taking place at the same time, and it’s possible the next hires will be a package deal if a coaching candidate has a particular person in mind.

The Raiders haven’t wasted time in searching for a new coach.

They requested interviews Wednesday with Detroit Lions coordinators Aaron Glenn on defense and Ben Johnson on offense and Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

Las Vegas has since added former New York Jets coach Robert Saleh and Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken to their request lists.

Saleh took over the Jets in 2021, going 20-36 until he was fired five games into this season. There were questions about his relationship with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and beginning the season 2-3 didn’t give Saleh much of a benefit of the doubt in owner Woody Johnson’s eyes.

But the Jets went just 3-9 after Saleh’s firing. He is a defensive coach, and New York went from allowing 255.8 yards and 17 points per game in five contests under him to averages 337.9 yards and 26.6 points following his dismissal.

Monken is completing his second season as the Ravens’ offensive coordinator. Quarterback Lamar Jackson was the AP MVP last season and a strong candidate again this year.

The Ravens led the NFL this season with 424.9 yards per game and were third with a 30.5-point average. They were in the top six in both categories a year ago.

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