Raiders’ Conley robust after rookie frustrations
Cornerback Gareon Conley carried himself well in his NFL debut last season in Week 2 against the Jets. Targeted for the first time, Conley stayed in stride with receiver Jermaine Kearse and deflected a deep pass. The Jets rarely threw at Conley again as he finished with three tackles.
Looking back, though, the 2017 first-round pick says he didn’t feel right in that game — or for the vast majority of his rookie season.
Conley, selected 24th overall by the Raiders from Ohio State, missed all of training camp, the exhibition games and the regular-season opener with a nagging shin injury. It quieted enough for Conley to play in Weeks 2 and 3, only to
return and keep him out for the rest of the season.
If some saw in those two games a glimpse of the player the Raiders admired, Conley saw only the evidence of missed opportunity.
“I feel I played all right,” he said, “but I felt like I could’ve played way better.”
The Raiders appear to agree. They made over the cornerback position this offseason — parting with David Amerson, Sean Smith and TJ Carrie and adding Rashaan Melvin, Daryl Worley, Leon Hall and Shareece Wright — but have stated throughout their belief that Conley, if healthy, can be their No. 1 cornerback.
Conley said he did have surgery on his shin, and he has been eased into practices this spring. On Tuesday, he spent much of the team portion of practice watching from the sideline, but later sounded optimistic about his progress. Head coach Jon Gruden, meanwhile, said he has seen Conley’s confidence grow “tremendously.”
“I give our secondary coach (Derrick) Ansley a lot of credit — he spent a lot of time behind the scenes with Conley,” Gruden said. “It’s been a dark world that he’s been in, this young man. He had a terrible injury he had to rehab from. He’s had to change coaches, learn a new system.
“It’s been a slow, steady process. But man, is he a good player. And when he’s feeling good, you can see why we picked him No. 1.”
Because he hardly played last year, Conley said he still feels like a rookie physically but is going into his second season “mentally, just knowing the game and all the logistics.” He watched as the Raiders stumbled to a 6-10 record that led to turnover of the coaching staff and roster.
“Just seeing the way the whole thing was just set up, it wasn’t how we are now,” Conley said. “People weren’t all together as one. Everybody was, like, kind of just in their own lane. I feel like we’re all in one lane right now.”
The Raiders added two corners who were full-time starters last season in Worley (Carolina) and Melvin (Indianapolis). Melvin, who is projected to start opposite Conley, said after the Raiders signed him in March that he considers himself a “No. 1 defensive back.”
Conley said he welcomes the competition at his position: “It makes you compete harder.” He’s also pleased with what coordinator Paul Guenther’s defense asks of its cornerbacks.
“I feel like it suits me well,” Conley said. “We play press a lot, just like I did in college. That’s basically the defense for the corners. Play press man, lock your man down.”
While sidelined last season, Conley said he talked with “multiple people” about the process of returning from injury, including Raiders safety Karl Joseph, who tore his ACL as a college senior and was limited in his first NFL training camp.
“I told him to keep his head up, keep fighting through it,” Joseph said. “There’s a lot of pressure from outside sources and pressure you put on yourself coming in, being drafted high. So just keep battling through it, and when you’re ready, you’re going to be ready.”
Conley said Tuesday he had “a long time to recover” and gave a succinct review of his physical state:
“I feel like I’m back.”