Jon Gruden isn’t the best at hiding his emotions and while it might be only May, the head ball coach already can’t seem to hide his excitement to have Gareon Conley back and healthy.
For a while now, you’ve been reading about how confident the Raiders are in Conley and Gruden talked about the second-year cornerback again last week on a conference call with season tickets holders.
“We are excited about the return of Gareon Conley, our first round draft choice,” Gruden said. “He’s been excellent so far… He’s at full speed, he’s at full strength, and you talk about a huge addition to our team. It starts with Gareon Conley who missed almost all of it last year. This is a shutdown corner. He’s a guy that we’re gonna build our secondary around.”
Most importantly, it sounds like Conley is no longer bothered by the leg injury that ended his rookie season – something that no one was ready to assume after his mysterious shin ailment wasn’t able to heal last year.
The Raiders could use a healthy season from Conley because they don’t boast a lot of depth in the secondary, but Gruden seems to be confident in what he has.
“Don’t look at our secondary like a weak link right now,” Gruden said of the largely overhauled group. “I think we’ve got a better group back there than people think.”
As of now, Conley and Rashaan Melvin are the Raiders presumed starters at cornerback with Leon Hall, Daryl Worley, and rookie Nick Nelson all figuring to be in the mix.
twitter: @raidersbeat
What about shareece Wright??
Think they view Shareece as a slot guy for the most part, perhaps that’s why they didn’t list him as “being in the mix”. All the others mentioned fit better on the outside, and I don’t think Hall makes it into the final 53.
I get the whole “shutdown corner” thing, but if the QB has time and he’s up against a top tier vet WR guess what happens. Or not even top tier WR just a good QB WR combo wins this a good majority of the time when the QB has time. Put pressure on the QB the CB has a better chance. So explain to me why Mack isn’t signed yet? The Raiders goal in the off-season, especially the draft was to beef up the pass rush. That shouldn’t mean push Mack off! Get the Deal Done before Aaron Donald before the price is more ridiculous then it would be right now. Set the tone!! The Defense thrives with Mack!! Give the DB’s a chance and with what the Raiders have now around Mack will allow the whole DB unit to be “Shutdown”!
I think our defense is a lot better than everyone thinks. We have had the worse coaching the past 3 years.