Ahead of the NFL draft, NFL Media’s Gregg Rosenthal compiled his annual list, ranking all the general managers throughout the league based on how they’ve done at selecting players.
Chargers general manager Tom Telesco checked in at No. 11 overall.
Justin Herbert. Derwin James. Joey Bosa. Hunter Henry. Keenan Allen. While Allen doesn’t count for this exercise, the span of these prime-time players drafted to wear Chargers blue is a credit to Telesco and the reason why he’s quietly the ninth-longest tenured GM in football, depending how you count Jerry Jones in Dallas and Mike Brown in Cincinnati. Telesco’s biggest shortcoming — hiring coaches — is not a factor here and his struggles to construct an offensive line is only partly about his draft mistakes. If there is criticism, it’s that the Bolts have often struggled to build out the depth of their roster to support the surfeit of stars.
Despite only being in the playoffs twice in his eight-year tenure, Telesco has done a fine job landing key players like wide receiver Keenan Allen, defensive end Joey Bosa, safety Derwin James and most recently quarterback Justin Herbert through the draft.
However, that’s not to say he’s without flaws.
Offensively, he’s failed to put together a competent offensive line. Instead of getting top talent early on, he’s banked on mid to late rounders in hopes of them developing. That hasn’t paid off, as seen when you have Herbert and Philip Rivers running for their lives all game.
Defensively, Telesco has prioritized that side of the ball, but the impact that the majority of those players have made has been minimal, as seen when they’re called upon when injuries have occurred.
Knowing that this is likely Telesco’s last shot to piece together a roster that’s capable of making a deep run, he must hit on high caliber players in this year’s draft. If not, he could be on his way out.