Las Vegas Raiders GM Tom Telesco Post Day Two of the NFL Draft Press Conference

The Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Tom Telesco has overseen a terrific 2024 NFL Draft, and moments ago he spoke after rounds two and three.

HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders, under the direction of Tom Telesco, continue to have a terrific 2024 NFL Draft, as they concluded day two, rounds two and three today,

After the day was over, Telesco spoke to the media explaining the Silver and Black picks and here is everything he said:

You can watch the entire press conference WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, or you can read the entire transcript below:

Day Two Press Conference with General Manager Tom Telesco

Q: Curious about your evaluation on Jackson Powers-Johnson. Where do you feel like he's going to fit in?

Telesco: "Yeah, we see him fitting in at guard. He's played guard, he's played center, but we see him as a guard for us. But another young kid, 21 years old, so still a lot of growth in his game. But he's big, he's tough, he plays a Raiders style of football, but he's also a pretty good athlete to go along with that. So, love his versatility, love his energy and enthusiasm as a player, and to get him in the mix."

Q: Same question for DJ Glaze, where does he fit in?

Telesco: "Yeah, it's probably a lot of the same answers. Another young guy, 21 years old, but a lot of

versatility, and we see him as a tackle right now. He's played both left and right. Probably will see him

more on the right side at tackle right now. He's got some possible guard in the future maybe, but the

flexibility is really nice for all these guys. Typically, you're dressing eight offensive linemen, the more they can do the better because we know there's going to be injuries during the year. But no, we see him more as a right tackle. Big frame, long arms, really productive college player. I mean, he'd just block the guy in front of him very consistently. To keep it real general, guy over him, run game, pass game, blocked his man. Balanced body control and strength, and again, we think there's a lot of future upside with him too."

Q: 17 offensive tackles taken so far in the first 100 picks. Did you sort of get a feeling like that's where

it was going to go with the offensive tackles?

Telesco: "They're so hard to find and typically you're drafting them high. There aren't very many people that have that type of size, football intelligence, work ethic and feet. They're just really hard to find across the league. So, you need three starting quality offensive tackles, easier said than done. But you really need that third guy to be able to go back and forth. But yeah, you can tell across the league that's kind of where they're going."

Q: I was told that DJ Glaze really stood out at the Senior Bowl against that competition, that's where

people thought he may be took a step up. Did he grow in your opinion at the Senior Bowl, just getting

to see him?

Telesco: "Yeah, I mean, the Senior Bowl always helps. Same with Jackson [Powers-Johnson], it's nice that they put him at guard a little bit at Senior Bowl even though he had played it at Oregon. But with DJ [Glaze], the great thing about the Senior Bowl is you're practicing every day against somebody who's an NFL player. A regular college game, no matter what conference, the player you’re playing against the next year, he may be an accountant somewhere. Maybe a great college player, but maybe not a pro prospect. If you're in the Senior Bowl, they're all pro prospects. They're all going to play in the league. So, if you do well there like DJ did, yeah it certainly helps him. But his college tape was really good too, so it's really more of a confirmation of what we think he can do at this level. And again, we're projecting all these guys from Brock [Bowers] all the way down. These guys are really good college players. We're projecting them to be good pro players. But the Senior Bowl is always a great evaluation tool for us."

Q: With all three of your picks being 21 years old, I'm assuming that's not a coincidence. What do you

like about getting younger players?

Telesco: "I mean, it's not a coincidence, but it's also not like we would remove players if they were 22, 23 even nowadays because of Covid-19, 24. But yeah, I mean, at the college level, if you're a younger player, you're playing against older guys sometimes. And if you can hold your own against those guys, when you get to this league, this is the big boy league. But you just hope there's more growth there. I mean, it's kind of normal you hope there's more growth there. They have to put in the work ethic and we have to coach it there to kind of develop and teach them, but it's a journey for these guys. Hopefully they're going to have long careers, but it's nice that we know these three guys can kind of grow together."

Q: How important was it to let Andre James know that he was still the center?

Telesco: "I just think the more clarity you can give players, the better. And I've always been kind of

sensitive to everybody we're drafting coming in here. There's already somebody here, so they're coming in to compete for somebody's job. It's always kind of a stressful week, and I think for everybody. It's stressful for the draft picks; they're going to a new team, they're going to compete and win a job, and the players that are here know they have more competition coming in. So, if you can give someone clarity when you can, you try and do it."

Q: Does it feel more and more like it's going to be Gardner Minshew against Aidan O'Connell? There's

not a huge quarterback production after tonight. I don't know what your plans are in the future, but is

that kind of your assessment?

Telesco: "As I sit here right now, that's it."

Q: Antonio Pierce, shortly after you got hired, said you want to build this team up through the trenches and it seemed like that was the intent today with the offensive line. Was it an intentional effort to address that position in the draft?

Telesco: "Yeah, it was. And in free agency, too. We just kind of felt as we build this football team out it

really has to start on both sides of the ball – offense and defensive line. That was my thought when I

originally arrived here. AP had the same thought, which is perfect. Same vision. We have some work to do, we know that. This is not like a total rebuild, but we do feel like it really has to start on the offensive line and defensive line, fully knowing even on the offensive line you really can't do it all in one year. But there are already some pieces in place here, which is great to know. We signed Andre James, we dropped a couple players, gotsome more depth in here, which we really need as much depth as possible. But yeah, it was intentional."

Q: How important is versatility in these players when it comesto your equation of best player available?

Telesco: "Really important. Certainly on the offensive line, it really is important. It's just really difficult if

you're not a starter - so if you're six, seven or eight or even nine in the offensive line room, if you can only what play one position, it's just really hard to get you dressed on Sundays. Guards have to be able to play tackle or center, tackles have to be able to play guard. So, it just helps your flexibility in playing. As we all know, the group you start with, injuries are going to happen and guys are going to have to be able to move to different spots, so the versatility is really important. And then even with Brock Bowers, that's a huge part of this that he can - you saw him, you guys have seen him, he can play some tight end, you can move him out as a big slot, you can put him as a wing, put him in the backfield if you want to. So, that's kind of where the league is right now with some of these guys, but the more versatility the better. It's harder to prepare for that for the opponent."

Q: As you transition into day three, all of these guys have a development aspect to them, first round,

second round, third round, but as we get into this stage of the draft, are there any traits that you can

sort of focus on in this part of the draft?

Telesco: "You're still looking for some traits that you think could be a potential starter down the road,

fully knowing that most these guys aren't going to walk into a starting job. And I think I said last week, like 30 percent of these rookies will actually play a significant amount of snaps their rookie year, so the thought that you're filling needs really on day two and day three, it may look good on paper, but it's not reality. So, in day three as far as the character intangible part, that's the same as every other round, but yeah, we're looking for some traits that we think, 'Hey, he'll have a role short term, but we think he may have a couple of traits that can lead to be starter down the road.”

Q: What have you seen so far from Aidan O'Connell and Gardner Minshew this offseason that gives you excitement?

Telesco: "I'm going to be honest, I mean we haven't done anything. They've been lifting and running, and I've been getting ready for the draft, so I just haven't seen enough other than them interacting with their teammates and interacting with each other, which has been really positive. But as far as like actual onfield stuff, I just haven't seen anything yet. But we'll get that real soon. That's why I can't wait to get through this day three and get the team here, get all the players here and start getting on the grass and getting a better feel for everybody."

Q: Yesterday, you talked about taking the best player available on the board. How did you feel about

getting Jackson Powers-Johnson where you did in the second round, 44th pick?

Telesco: "Yeah, really happy. That was one where we felt like the best talent there lined up with we

wanted to add to the offensive line, so that was the perfect combination. It doesn't always work like that. We can't manufacture players, so if you do have a specific need, you'd love to fill but if there's nobody there on your board that kind of fits it, you just can't go reaching around and manufacture somebody. Everybody's boards are a little different. There's no one big consensus board. If there was, I'd love to hear the GM of the consensus board. Like the Brock Bowers of the world, you can get some consensus, but after that, I mean you put football people in a room, there's no way everyone's going to see someone the same way, it just doesn't work like that. Just like with my three kids, there's no way I get consensus with those three, so it's no different. But since we all see it differently, you've got to work it. But it was really nice with Jackson that, 'Hey, look, we'd love to add to the offensive line if we could,' and he was a highlevel player for us, and we got lucky that we kind of - the second round was a frenzy. There was a lot of trade action, a lot of work. Third round was much more quiet, but we got lucky in the second to get where we were."

Q: Early in coach's careers - like Antonio Pierce is a defensive coach - sometimes they think that much but watching him he's celebrating these offensive picks. I'm just curious, is that a maturity maybe that you wouldn't have expected in a first-year coach?

Telesco: “This is great to see him. He's the head coach, he coaches the whole team, but it's a great trait to see. We know we have to put the whole team together. We added a couple in free agency on defense, certainly with Christian Wilkins, but then resigning some of our own players. But just trying to balance the roster the best you can. Your allocation of resources are important and trying to use them in the right spots, and now he's got a great feel for that.”

Q: I know you talked about Brock Bowers last night but having him in the building today and meeting

his family. What was it like to have him around?

Telesco: “Yeah, it's pretty cool. We should get him on the practice field right now. He can't come back into rookie minicamp, but yeah, it's nice to see he brought his parents with him. Everyone got a chance to spend some time with him. I assume you guys did too. So, yeah, I can't wait to get going with him. He's all football, so we can't wait to get him out here.”

Q: Just briefly meeting the guys today, it sounds like they have great character. How much of the

character and the demeanor play a factor in this draft?

Telesco: “It’s a big part of it. This is a very difficult game to play. There's a lot of adversity. Both personal adversity and team adversity, and you got to be able to handle that at a high level. And sometimes there's talented players who just can't handle that, and we need guys that we can count on and have a drive and desire to be great. Because if you're just talented, but you don't have that drive and desire, you're just going to probably plateau out as a player. So, that's we're trying to find in everybody we sign or draft. Sometimes we're right and sometimes we miss on it. But those traits are important to us because there's so much work that goes into being a professional football player that's more than just going out on game day and playing. These three kids - they aren't kids anymore - but these three players, we think they have those traits."

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