Gareon Conley is expected to miss at least two weeks with a hip injury and according to former Raiders voice Greg Papa (it’s strange to say that), Conley has been dealing with a vitamin D issue that may or may not have been fully rectified in the year since he was diagnosed.
This was Papa on Monday on his 95.7 The Game radio program:
“From what I’ve been told dating back to last year, and I’m a little surprised that this has lingered into a year because [Gareon Conley] has a vitamin D deficiency and it’s not something that was going to away in a night, a week, or a month, but over an extended period of time you would be able to elevate his intake of vitamin D to get his body to an acceptable level where he can recover from injury. This injury he has now could be completely unrelated to what I’m talking about last year. I’m talking about the shin splints. His body would not heal as quickly as other athletes.”
While Conley’s vitamin D condition has been addressed, Papa said Kevin Durant has a similar issue and the problem apparently hasn’t gone completely away.
“Kevin Durant had that as well when he was younger,” Papa said. “And because of the vitamin D deficiency he heals from injuries slower than other athletes. And I think that was part of the frustration last year once he got dinged up in the shin area in mini camp and he just could not heal.”
So the question is, will Conley heal a little slower than others for the rest of his career? Apparently it’s something that Durant still deals with and if that’s the case with Conley, nagging injuries could be something that follow him around for years. It’s worth noting that Conley didn’t have injury problems in college, but the NFL game is obviously much more physical.
Whatever is going on with his body, you can be sure fans will be watching Conley’s recovery time closely this time around – and the Raiders, too, for that matter.
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