Even before he played a down in the NFL, Gareon Conley was being touted as the best cornerback on the Raiders roster. In his NFL debut on Sunday, he was exactly that.
The Raiders didn’t give Conley a full workload against the Jets, but according to Pro Football Focus, the rookie gave up just one reception on 28 plays – an impressive mark even against a woeful offense.
The highlight of his day was a difficult sideline fade route that Conley defended perfectly. Not only did he turn his head on the play, Conley also showed his impressive wingspan (he has 33-inch arms) to reach back and get a hand on a near-perfectly thrown pass – a sight that isn’t often seen in silver and black.
Gareon Conley is making an impact already pic.twitter.com/8lLh3CVjXE
— Ian Wharton (@NFLFilmStudy) September 17, 2017
After missing all of training camp and all four preseason games with a leg injury, expectations were tempered for Conley’s return, but every indication is that he’s worked tirelessly off the field to ease the learning curve – even up to the night of his first game.
Khalil Mack walked by a film room last night + saw Gareon Conley in there by himself. Knew right then rookie was going to have a good day.
— Scott Bair (@BairNBCS) September 18, 2017
Conley will presumably see more action when the Raiders travel to Washington in a week. Through two games, the Redskins haven’t been great offensively, but are more dynamic than anyone the Raiders have faced to this point – which isn’t necessarily saying a lot.
twitter: @raidersbeat
I believe our secondary is going to be completely better with him. Awesome start
Conley is a stud, he showed RAIDER fans how your supposed to play the ball as a early 1st round pick,we stole him @ 24, just like we stole Eddy Vanderdoes in round 3. In Reggie we trust !. RNFL
From what i could tell Conley had his side of the field on lockdown and his breakup play showed why he will elevate our secondary in a big way. While Carrie and Conley were both forcing McCown to look for matchups against lbs and the rare instance that Amerson was out of position, Nelson and Joseph were wreaking havoc at the line of scrimmage. If Smiths improved play last week continues, all of a sudden the defensive backfield of the Oakland Raiders is a strength for this football team. I want to head into our first matchup against KC in October with our defense ready to win that game for us.
Conley was spectacular in my opinion.
I wonder how many of those plays were the plays we got sacks..
Great to see! He might be the real deal
In a couple years with Conley , Melifonwu , and the hard hitting Karl Joseph , my expectations are the Raiders having an elite secondary….I’m guessing they will address the CB position in next years draft and the Raiders scouts have proved themselves to have an eye for talent….
Whenever the Raiders have had good secondary play they have been one of the best teams in football. If early indications hold it will be no different now. The offense is one of the best, the D-line looks much improved, and if DBs can cover receivers for any length of time we will see our sack totals rise dramatically. We didn’t get many “coverage” sacks last season but I think that is going to change. Conley and Joseph were excellent and Amersin and Carrie looked solid. Add in Obi and Smith and tge Raiders finally have a secondary worthy of wearing silver and black. I was also very impressed with the play of Morrow yesterday. It seemed like he was everywhere!
The Jets didn’t try Conley often but you can bet the Broncos will in 2 weeks . If he can take Sanders away from them , I’ll be really excited . Our bigger corners ( Smith & Amerson ) don’t seem to have a lot of trouble with Thomas . My concern is how the linebackers will cover Denver’s running backs . That game will be a dog fight but first we gotta beat Washington . Go Raiders .