AFC Notes: Tom Telesco, Antonio Pierce, Zach Wilson, Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

Peyton Manning mentioned he reached out to Broncos’ new QB Zach Wilson, telling the quarterback he is confident playing under Sean Payton will be good for him.

“The best way to really screw a young quarterback up is to change coordinators on him every single year, and it drives me crazy,” Manning said, via Rich Cimini. “Let’s just sort of start over, right? And let’s just let Sean Payton and his staff coach you and kind of start from ground zero, which I think might be just what Zach needs.”

Manning reiterated how its important for a quarterback to have consistent coaching. 

“He will get coached hard here by Sean Payton and their staff; (it) is important for young quarterbacks to be coached hard. He’s obviously very talented.”

• Broncos CB Levi Wallace‘s one-year, $1,292,500 deal includes a $167,500 signing bonus, and $500,000 of his $1,125,000 salary is guaranteed. (OverTheCap)

Chiefs

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes said he’ll give his input, but trusts GM Brett Veach and HC Andy Reid to bring in the best players to help continue the franchise’s run.

“At the end of the day, we have the greatest of greatest as far as GMs and head coach and the staffs that they build, so I know they’re going to get great players in here,” Mahomes said, via Chiefs Wire. “I’ll give my input, but I trust they’re going to do the work to get the great players in. You’ve seen our team; it seems like we get younger and younger every single year and that comes from drafting.”

Raiders

New Raiders GM Tom Telesco spent 11 years with the Chargers in the same role. Telesco mentioned how much he’s enjoyed his time with HC Antonio Pierce to this point in their tenure together.

“Yeah, it’s been really good,” Telesco said, via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “He’s got a great vision of what he wants in the football team, and he hasn’t deviated from that, which really helps the personnel department as we’re trying to match up players to our football team. He’s got a great feel for evaluating players, which I’m not surprised by. He played at a high level. He’s coached at high school level, college level, the pro level. Evaluating players is all the same, whether they’re 15 years old or 25 years old. But he’s got a really good feel for that.”

“What’s been nice since he was in college recently, he knows some of these players already. He may have recruited them, may have known about them, may have played against them when he was coaching in college. That’s been helpful. I think the biggest thing is he has a real vision of what he wants, and he hasn’t [wavered] with that. So, it really helps us kind of identify exactly who is going to fit as a Raider.”