Raiders general manager Tom Telesco knows what a franchise quarterback looks like. He drafted Chargers QB Justin Herbert and was on a Colts staff that drafted Hall of Famer Peyton Manning.
Now that he’s leading the QB-needy Raiders and preparing for the NFL Draft, Telesco says that it’s easy to project how big-school quarterbacks will play in the NFL compared to other sports.
Here is his comment from the NFL Combine, courtesy of The Athletic’s Tashan Reed.
“You’re projecting them to the next level,” Telesco said. “It’s so much easier than other sports. Like, imagine a baseball scout trying to project a high school senior to a major-league baseball player. Like, that’s hard. We have it easy. These quarterbacks are all big school quarterbacks, so we’ve seen them play against the big schools. Still, there’s a jump there, and can you do that same thing at this level?
“You put enough scouts’ opinions, coaches’ opinions and then the head coach’s opinion and my opinion, and you get that all together and you try to make the right decision.”
Telesco has a point. College quarterbacks arguably face more pressure than ever, considering the addition of an NCAA postseason and how popular college football has become in general. The top quarterbacks in the NFL Draft will almost always be battle-tested by an NCAA that is more like the NFL than ever. Comparing QB scouting to baseball scouting puts an exclamation point on Telesco’s statement.
But the bottom line is if Telesco feels this confident about his staff’s ability to identify the best quarterback in the draft, one whose talent projects to translate seamlessly to the NFL, Telesco should draft that player. Even if it takes trading valuable assets to move up in the draft.
That is unless Telesco doesn’t feel there is such a player in the draft, which is possible. He also told reporters at the NFL Combine that he’ll ‘explore every avenue’ to find quarterbacks to add to the roster. However he gets it done, the Raiders need more talent behind center. It’s a good thing Telesco is so confident in his and his staff’s abilities.