Hip surgery finishes season for rookie safety Melifonwu More Raiders Video
No. 2 draft pick has second procedure in four-month span
ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Raiders lost their second-round pick to a second surgery in four months.
Rookie safety Obi Melifonwu was placed Friday on injured reserve for the second time this year. He underwent an arthroscopic knee procedure in late August, forcing him to miss the first eight games before being activated onto the 53-man roster.
His season is over for good following a Thursday hip surgery, coach Jack Del Rio said Friday. This is the latest chapter to a difficult year for the defensive back and team’s rookie class.
Melifonwu played 34 defensive snaps in 2017. Seven came during his Nov. 5 season debut against the Miami Dolphins. Amid season-long struggles at left cornerback, the Raiders made a surprising move following the ensuing bye week to start Melifonwu at the position against the New England Patriots in Mexico City.
It didn’t seem a fair assignment in which to ask him to succeed.
The 23-year-old exited in the first quarter because of breathing difficulties reviewjournal.com/raiders and @ Nflinvegas on Twitter.
at the high-altitude Estadio Azteca. He returned but struggled, being pulled early in the third quarter after a deep 64-yard touchdown from quarterback Tom Brady to wide receiver Brandin Cooks.
The Raiders fired defensive coordinator Ken Norton, Jr. two days later. Melifonwu played one defensive snap during the next three games. His focus now is recovery.
He joins cornerback Gareon Conley, the team’s first-round pick, on injured reserve. Conley was first sidelined in mid-june to a shin ailment. Rest and time proved ineffective remedies. He missed training camp, the preseason and Week 1 before playing in Weeks 2 and 3. The ailment still wasn’t right. Ultimately, he had surgery on Nov. 20.
Conley finished 2017 with 92 defensive snaps, putting the combined total for the Raiders’ top two picks at 126.
Aside from special teams, defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes, a thirdround pick, has played 383 snaps. Fourth-round offensive tackle David Sharpe (three), fifth-round linebacker Marquel Lee (127) and four seventh-round choices — safety Shalom Luani (86), offensive tackle Jylan Ware ▶ reviewjournal.com/raidersupdate
(zero), running back Elijah Hood (zero) and defensive tackle Treyvon Hester (331) — round out the group.
Luani ranks second on the team with 242 reps on special teams.
Linebacker Nicholas Morrow leads all Raiders rookies with 573 snaps, including 420 on defense. He went undrafted out of Greenville College, a Div. III school in Illinois.
And so, this largely amounts to a redshirt year for Melifonwu, who missed a good chunk of training camp, too, with an ankle injury.
The Raiders had high hopes for him this offseason, figuring he’d be able to contribute immediately in their sub-packages, specifically to shadow an opponent’s top receiving tight end. Aside from brief work in Miami, the role never came to fruition.
Cornerback Antonio Hamilton (knee) was activated from IR to assume Melifonwu’s roster spot.
Hamilton said that he learned during Friday’s practice he’ll play Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys. He has missed the past eight games.
Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Gehlkennfl on Twitter.
Four more plays for Week 15 (home team in CAPS):
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Los Angeles lost its seventh straight to Kansas City 24-10 in Week 3. But the Chargers have since caught fire. After an 0-4 start, they’ve gone 7-2 behind QB Philip Rivers — who has three straight 300-yard passing games and is 36-18 in December — and the NFL’S No. 2 scoring defense (17.3 ppg).
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typically rally in the first game after the loss of a star player. Look for Philadelphia to do that after losing QB Carson Wentz to a torn ACL. His replacement, Nick Foles, is one of the NFL’S best backups, throwing 27 touchdowns and only two interceptions for the Eagles in 2013. Philadelphia, gunning for the NFC’S top playoff seed, has won six of the past seven meetings and is 13-5-1 ATS in the past 19 meetings.
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All the attention has been focused on the return of Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers, who threw for 369 yards and four TDS in the last meeting, a 37-29 loss at Carolina in 2015. The Packers (7-6) need to win out for any shot at the playoffs, but the Panthers (9-4) also are gunning for the postseason and are coming off a quality win over the Vikings. Carolina is fifth in the league in rushing, has the NFL’S No. 10 scoring defense.
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Baltimore still has an outside shot at making the playoffs and had two shutouts in five games before last week’s 39-38 shootout loss at Pittsburgh. The Ravens have averaged 32 points in their past four games and beat the Browns 24-10 in Week 2 while picking off four passes. Cleveland is last in the league in scoring (15.2 ppg) and 3-10 ATS this season. Last week: 3-2 against the spread Season: 36-34
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
Chargers (PK) over CHIEFS: Eagles (-7.5) over GIANTS:TEAMS PANTHERS (-2.5) over Packers: Ravens (-7) over BROWNS: