Lodi News-Sentinel

RAIDERS PLACE CB CONLEY ON IR

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ALAMEDA — Oakland Raiders first-round pick Gareon Conley had a disappoint­ing end to his rookie year when he was placed on injured reserve Monday after playing only two games all season.

Oakland drafted Conley 24th overall in hopes that the cornerback could boost a secondary that struggled a year ago. He showed flashes of good play during the offseason program but hasn’t been able to stay healthy since first injuring his shin during minicamp in June.

Conley missed all of training camp and played just two games in September before being sidelined again.

“It’s just people’s bodies are different, when you have those type injuries, you wait and see if it can heal and feel better and good enough to play early in the season,” general manager Reggie McKenzie said last week. “He was feeling better, then he had a setback.”

Conley broke up a pass the first time he was tested against the New York Jets in Week 2. He played 93 snaps over two games and recorded seven tackles.

With Conley sidelined, the Raiders have struggled again in the secondary with starter David Amerson missing time with injuries and Sean Smith having his playing time reduced because of ineffectiv­eness.

The Raiders are the first team in NFL history to fail to record a single intercepti­on in the first nine games of the season. Oakland’s opponents have a 110.5 passer rating and have completed 71.2 percent of their passes, which both rank as the third highest in NFL history.

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