The Las Vegas Raiders brought in General Manager Tom Telesco to help revamp the team’s roster after years of failed draft picks and failed moves in free agency.
The Raiders recently completed solidifying their roster as the season begins soon. This offseason, Telesco and the Raiders primarily focused on adding depth to their roster and developing the young talent.
As Coach Antonio Pierce enters his first season as a coach in the National Football League, Telesco believes the Raiders already had multiple players on the roster that fit Coach Pierce’s vision of being a tough and physical team. However, Telesco says he plans to continue building the roster to fit Coach Pierce’s vision but notes it will take time to complete the process.
“Well, yeah, I mean, we have some players here that have that vision we share, but we haven't played a game yet, so we got to see how things play out,” Telesco said. “But yeah, the shared vision of how we want to play on both sides of the ball, and really, that vision is really the vision of your head coach. That's what you're building the team around; it is his vision of how he wants to play offense and defense. You know, you can't do that overnight. It takes time.
“But there were already a lot of players here when I arrived that fit his vision, and we're going to continue to add to that this year and throughout the year. Because we talked about the roster being this is the starting point, this is the initial 53. We all know it's going to change throughout the year. You know, it could change in the next week, even before you play the opening game. But we'll see how that vision plays out. Having a vision is great. We need to see it executed on the field. So, that's the goal for week one.”
The Raiders made it through their initial roster cuts, which is always a difficult day for teams but is especially difficult for a team that was filled with the amount of talent the Raiders had. They undoubtedly had to make multiple challenging roster decisions as a front office.
