Raiders' Telesco on Interning for the Early 90s Bills

Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Tom Telesco started his career in the NFL as a summer intern for the Buffalo Bills in the early 1990s.

Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Tom Telesco has a whole lot of credibility as a longtime NFL executive.

That credibility began rather early on in his career in the NFL, as Telesco started as a summer intern for the Buffalo Bills from 1991 to 1994, the franchise's best years of the Super Bowl era. From 1990 to 1993, the Bills went to four consecutive Super Bowls, but never came away victorious.

Telesco discussed what he learned from those Buffalo teams and how he applies it to his role as a general manager when he joined the "2024 Raiders Free Agency Show."

"So, I was in college then when I was interning in training camps," Telesco said. "Those teams were so loaded with talent. That was pre-free agency, so guys couldn't move around as much. And offense and defense wise, it was just loaded.

"But it's no surprise what you see from the guys from there like Bruce Smith, Cornelius Bennett, and then, Jim Kelly, Andre -- I know Andre Reed pretty well -- Thurman [Thomas], but the whole group of guys is how much work they put in when they're not on the practice field as far as in the weight room, in the meeting rooms, even back then. The preparation that goes into being an NFL player ... it's a lot more than just [what] we do in practice. Because in this league, everybody's talented, but you got to find the edge -- the edge is usually work ethic, passion, preparation, and those teams had that and, on top of that, they could handle adversity so well, which is why they went back -- the four straight Super Bowls -- after losing a Super Bowl and then coming back, coming back again.

"I had seen nothing like that to have that mental toughness that you have to have that that whole team had. So, when we're looking at players, mental toughness is a big trait we're looking for because things aren't easy in this league; you have down weeks, you have down games, you have down plays. You got to bounce back from that.

"So, that mental toughness factor, and that's -- I mean, I saw that in spades with the Bills way back when -- that's a big part of what we're looking for."

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.

Ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @HondoCarpenter and IG @HondoSr and never miss another breaking news story again. Sign up RIGHT HERE for our 100% FREE newsletter that comes thrice a week and delivers all our best stories.

Please let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.