The 2023 NFL campaign is over, and teams are starting to assess their front office and decision-making structures. Head coaches highlight the hiring cycle, but a few clubs could also change their general managers this offseason.
Let’s take a look at the NFL general managers who have already been fired this year.
NFL GMs Fired in 2023
Tom Telesco, Los Angeles Chargers
Tom Telesco became the first NFL general manager to be fired in 2023 when he and head coach Brandon Staley were let go by the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 15.
Telesco had been with the Bolts since 2013, when he replaced longtime Chargers GM A.J. Smith. Los Angeles posted an 84-92 record during Telesco’s decade-plus tenure, with the club’s .477 winning percentage ranking 19th in the NFL during that span.
The Chargers went to the playoffs twice under Telesco but never advanced past the Divisional Round.
Telesco mostly hit on his first-round picks, adding standout talent like pass rusher Joey Bosa (2016), wide receiver Mike Williams (2017), safety Derwin James (2018), quarterback Justin Herbert (2020), and left tackle Rashawn Slater (2021) on Day 1 of the NFL Draft.
But the Chargers’ front office struggled to find complementary pieces in free agency. Cornerback J.C. Jackson — whom Los Angeles inked to a five-year, $82.5 million before the 2022 campaign before trading him back to the New England Patriots in 2023 — represented Telesco’s most significant mistake.
Telesco, 51, played football at John Carroll University before beginning his NFL career as a Buffalo Bills intern in 1991. He also spent time as a scout for the Carolina Panthers before working his way up the Indianapolis Colts’ front office ladder. Telesco was Indy’s vice president of football operations before joining the Chargers.
Scott Fitterer, Carolina Panthers
Although Scott Fitterer hung onto his Panthers GM role through the firings of Matt Rhule and Frank Reich, he was finally let go on Jan. 8, 2024. Carolina will clean house entirely and conduct dual searches for a new general manager and head coach.
How much roster control Fitterer ever held is an open question. The Panthers hired him a year into Rhule’s regime, and he stayed on under Reich this past season.
But whoever was making decisions in Carolina did a poor job during Fitterer’s run.
MORE: List of Current NFL General Managers
The club’s decision to trade a haul of draft picks and WR DJ Moore for the No. 1 pick — only to select Bryce Young over C.J. Stroud — already looks like a significant error. Rejecting two first-round picks from the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for EDGE Brian Burns in 2022 might’ve been just as egregious of a mistake.
Fitterer, 50, began his NFL career as an area scout for the New York Giants before joining the Seattle Seahawks in 2001. He spent the next two decades in Seattle, working as the team’s director of college scouting before moving into a pro personnel role.
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