Chargers Front Office | Los Angeles Chargers - chargers.com

With a keen eye for acquiring talented players, Tom Telesco enters his 11th season as General Manager of the Chargers in 2023.

With a keen eye for acquiring talented players, Tom Telesco enters his 11th season as General Manager of the Chargers in 2023.

Hired by the Chargers in January 2013 at the age of 40, Telesco became the youngest general manager in team history. Telesco immediately helped the Chargers return to the playoffs in 2013 with a roster that featured 25 players who joined the team prior to or during the season. He also put together a 2018 squad that tied for the AFC's best record with 12 victories and won an AFC Wild Card matchup in Baltimore. Telesco worked closely with President of Football Operations John Spanos to hire Brandon Staley as the 17th head coach in franchise history in 2021. Telesco and Staley led the Bolts to a 10-7 record and a postseason berth in 2022.

Telesco and the Chargers selected offensive linemen in the first round each of the last two seasons — Boston College guard Zion Johnson at No. 17 in the 2022 NFL Draft and Northwestern tackle Rashawn Slater in 2021 with the No. 13 selection. Both immediate starters on the offensive line, Johnson and Slater were All-Rookie selections from the Professional Football Writers of America. Slater went on to be named a starter in the 2022 Pro Bowl, the first rookie tackle selected to an all-star game in nearly a decade. The rookie was part of an offensive line that protected second-year quarterback and 2020 first-round selection Justin Herbert to turn in the best passing season in Chargers history, setting franchise records in passing yards (5,014), passing touchdowns (38) and 300-passing yard performances (nine).

In 2020, Telesco made a pair of first-round choices, selecting two PFWA All-Rookie Team honorees in Herbert and linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. In 15 starts, Herbert shattered the rookie passing record books, earning consensus Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and winning the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Month award in October and November. His record-setting 31 passing touchdowns also made Herbert the youngest quarterback in history to throw 30 scores in a single season (22 years, 299 days old). The Oregon product helped the Chargers close out the season with four-straight wins, including three of them in a row where he led the team on a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime. Murray, who started all 16 games for the Bolts, registered a Chargers rookie-record 107 tackles.

His first draft in 2013 featured Keenan Allen, the eventual Offensive Rookie of the Year from the PFWA. In 2017, the wide receiver broke the Chargers' then-single-season receptions record and posted the second-most receiving yards in team history en route to being named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year and earning his first Pro Bowl nod. Allen caught 95-plus passes in each season from 2017-21, the second-longest streak in NFL history, and was an all-star selection each of those years.

Over his 10 years with the organization, Telesco has drafted six players in the first round that went on to make a Pro Bowl with the team in Jason Verrett, Melvin Gordon III, Joey Bosa, Derwin James Jr., Justin Herbert and Rashawn Slater.

Telesco also has a proven track record with undrafted free agents. His finds have been highlighted by running back Austin Ekeler — who led the NFL in touchdowns each of the last two seasons — out of Western State Colorado, Pro Bowl special teamer Adrian Phillips and deep-threat and 1,000-yard receiver Tyrell Williams. In Telesco's tenure with the Bolts, 23 undrafted rookies have been on the team's roster on Kickoff Weekend.

On top of his rookie acquisitions, Telesco has brought in some of the top free agent talents in the NFL. Casey Hayward blossomed into one of the top corners in the league, making back-to-back Pro Bowls in 2016-17 while tackle Russell Okung, center Mike Pouncey and, most recently, center Corey Linsley made the Pro Bowl in their first seasons with the team. Last offseason, Telesco acquired 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and six-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker Khalil Mack in a trade with the Chicago Bears. Mack led the team in sacks in 2022 and was a Pro Bowl selection as an AFC starting outside linebacker.

A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Telesco prepped at St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, N.Y. Days prior to Super Bowl XLVIII in January 2014, which was co-hosted by New York and New Jersey, Telesco was recognized for his accomplishments on the floor of the New York State Senate by Senator Timothy Kennedy.

After graduating from St. Francis, Telesco played wide receiver at John Carroll University in Ohio. He was a starter on the Blue Streaks' 1994 Ohio Athletic Conference Championship team, and two of his teammates at John Carroll were Chris and Brian Polian, sons of Bill Polian, a 2015 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

While attending John Carroll, Telesco spent four summers (1991-94) as a training camp intern with the Buffalo Bills. At that time, the elder Polian was the Bills' general manager. Polian left Buffalo for Carolina in 1994 and after Telesco graduated from John Carroll with a degree in business management in 1995, Polian hired him to work in the Panthers' scouting department. In 1998, Telesco and Polian moved on to Indianapolis, where Telesco would spend his next 15 NFL seasons as a college scout, pro scout, director of pro scouting, director of player personnel and vice president of football operations. He worked in Indianapolis during Peyton Manning's entire career with the Colts and later was part of the team that brought Andrew Luck to the Colts with the first pick of the 2012 NFL Draft. Telesco also was involved in Colts drafts that featured four-time Pro Bowl running back Edgerrin James, five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney — a seven-time Pro Bowler as a Colt and two-time All-Pro selection — and 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Bob Sanders.

Telesco's tenure in Indianapolis was one of the most successful eras in team history. The Colts played in two Super Bowls, including a victory over Chicago in Super Bowl XLI. From 1998-2012, the Colts won 154 regular-season games, eight division titles and they appeared in the playoffs 12 times. Indianapolis set a then-NFL record with 12 or more wins in seven-consecutive seasons and they won an NFL-record 23-straight regular-season games during the 2008-09 seasons. Their 115 regular-season wins from 2000-09 set a then-league record for wins in a single decade.

In 2015 and 2018, Telesco was invited to be a speaker at the NFL's Career Development Symposium in Arizona. The program, attended by nearly 70 coaches and front office executives, was designed to engage aspiring head coach and general manager candidates. Telesco was one of only two active general managers invited to address participants at the symposium. He is also the co-chairman of the NFL General Manager Advisory Committee.

Telesco and his wife, Larah, have a daughter, Elena, and two sons, Thomas and Nicholas.