Time may be running out for Raiders 2017 second-round pick Obi Melifonwu.
It was Melifonwu’s physical makeup that catapulted him to the NFL, and so far it’s been his physical makeup that’s kept him off the field as a pro – in the form of injuries, that is.
Gruden has talked about Melifonwu on a number of occasions over the past few months and not once has he sounded overly optimistic – or even optimistic at all. The second-year safety has drawn more wisecracks from Gruden than anything else and The Athletic’s Vic Tafur believes the writing is on the wall for Obi.
“He reinjured himself, there was little mystery as to what it was, I’m told it’s maybe related to last year’s injury,” Tafur said Friday on his State of the Nation podcast. “He had him surgery last year. There’s still some issues down there, I’m not exactly sure what it is.”
“Gruden can’t keep a straight face if you ask him about [Melifonwu], so he’s pretty much a dead man walking… I don’t know what they’re going to do with him. I don’t think you can cut him so probably going to stash him on IR. He’s just too far behind with the new staff.”
What’s worse is that the new coaching staff apparently isn’t sold that Melifonwu even likes football very much – a conclusion that some of his former coaches seemed to reach a year ago.
“I’m not sure Obi loves [football],” Tafur added on Melifonwu. “It’s not his fault the injuries happen, but his toughness has been called into question a little bit by some of the people here, last year and this year. So I don’t know at this point if you can say he really loves what he’s doing.”
Melifonwu is currently still out and if his latest injury happens to be related to last year’s injury, the sky’s the limit to how long he could be out this time.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Obi = giant
Melifonwu= vagina
Time to cut bait…
Cut him..
Not exactly what I wanted to be “sky’s the limit'” on…
Wow. Cutting him would be a tragic waste of a 2nd round draft pick. Hope he heals and gets his **** together
it was a reach of a pick to begin with. they tried to sell the fans on his size and speed and that he was the answer to kelce in KC. lol
i had a feeling when they drafted him the guy would be a project at BEST taking 2-3 seasons for the light bulb to come on.
gruden isn’t waiting that long….
makes me really really really question reggie mckenzie’s drafting abilities. look back at ALL the 2nd round picks Reggie has drafted.
2013 Menelik Watson …i just lowered my head in disgust when they made this pick
2014 Carr (to me this was an obvious choice that any GM or random guy on the street would have made)
2015 Mario Edwards Jr …i yelled at the t.v. who????? when they picked him
2016 Jihad Ward ….i was pissed at this pick i wanted nakaoue
2017 Obi …knew this was gonna be a cluster fu*k
2018 PJ Hall (I consider him a gruden pick)
Reggie likes to gamble with his 2nd round picks and he is not doing that great.
I personally never thought he was a football player, just an athlete.
No way you can just cut a SECOND RD pick
Reggie has to go! He should be a dead man walking.
I agree…Reggie SUCKS!!!!!
I enjoy the report
It works really well for me