Bill Polian Calls Raiders' Telesco a "Great Diplomat"

Legendary NFL general manager Bill Polian has high admiration for his former mentee, Las Vegas Raiders GM Tom Telesco.

Hall-of-Fame NFL general manager Bill Polian knows Las Vegas Raiders general manager Tom Telesco better than anyone in the football world.

As Telesco's mentor for most of the Raiders GM's career in the NFL, Polian knows Telesco's strengths, including one in particular that he admitted his former mentee is even better at than he was.

"This is where Tom excels -- and he's a world's better than I was, world's better -- he is a diplomat," Polian told our Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. when he recently joined the "Las Vegas Raiders Insider" podcast. "He's really a great diplomat. And so, the question you ask the coach when he asks: 'I want those 6-foot-4, 275-pound linebackers who run a 4.5,' well, you can deal with that a number of different ways.

"Tom's very good at saying: 'Listen, first of all, is this your really strong feeling or is this the coordinator and the linebacker coach you're reflecting?' And if the answer is 'No, it's my strong feeling,' OK, let me take you through the board and show you how many of those guys are here, because they aren't. What are we going to do about it?

"And so, you got to be a problem solver, but you got to help him solve the problem, too. So, those are the things that happen on a daily basis for general managers. And, like I said, Tom's so diplomatic and so easy to get along with and so easy to work with while still being firm in his ideas that he's a joy to work with."

Telesco worked under Polian with three different franchises -- the Buffalo Bills, the Carolina Panthers, and the Indianapolis Colts.

Beginning as a mere ball boy while in Buffalo, Telesco worked his way all the way up to eventually becoming vice president of football operations of the Indianapolis Colts, just after Polian had been fired by the Colts. He had served as the club's general manager from 1998 to 2009 and team president from 1998 through the 2011 season.

You can watch Carpenter's full interview with Polian from the "Las Vegas Raiders Insider" podcast here.

The NFL Draft will be held in Detroit, Mich., on April 25-27, 2024. The Las Vegas Raiders currently have the No. 13 overall pick.

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