Obi Melifonwu won’t leave the Raiders with many good memories. A second-round pick that couldn’t stay healthy, Melifonwu also had his passion for football questioned by two separate NFL coaching staffs.
“Last year’s coaching staff and this year’s both might agree that Melifonwu’s biggest malady may be that he doesn’t love football,” The Athletic’s Vic Tafur wrote on Thursday. “There were whispers that Melifonwu was ‘fragile’ in the locker room last season, and that would be a big reason why Gruden would cut him when it wouldn’t cost anything to stash him on IR for another year.”
Equally as bizarre was whatever went wrong with Melifonwu over the past two weeks.
“Melifonwu went to see a specialist, and it must have been far, far away,” Tafur said. “I was told [he] hasn’t been at the team facility for 10 days.”
Strange.
Looking back, Melifonwu just never came close to finding his mojo (any ideas, JDR?), even when he was healthy. At the very least it seems the Raiders decided against playing him at the position he wanted to play out of college – and Jack Del Rio’s staff did sacrifice the poor rookie to Tom Brady for one regrettable night in Mexico.
I always remember Obi telling us at Combine he wanted to play LB when everyone wanted to make him a CB. Maybe the NFL should listen to him.
— Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) August 23, 2018
Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered what position Melifonwu played if he couldn’t stay healthy – and football only gets more physical nearer to the line of scrimmage.
The question now, will anyone pick up the 56th pick in last year’s draft now that he’s floating around on waivers?
The Raiders hope someone will.
Melifonwu's contract is guaranteed and the #Raiders will take a $1.73 million salary cap hit if he is not picked up on waivers by another team. That is clearly their hope, otherwise he lands back on their injured reserve list.
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) August 23, 2018
Wherever Obi ends up next, there’s no question he has a wealth of talent that an NFL team would love to tap into… or maybe a professional basketball team somewhere.
Let us never forget…
#Raiders officially signed former #Giants CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
Waived Safety/CB Obi Melifonwu. A 2nd round pick in 2017.
He's this guypic.twitter.com/YD7Jxtv4LC
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 23, 2018
twitter: @raidersbeat
Best proof that we’re in win-now mode.
Gruden being there is proof theyre in “win now” mode. People can say what they want about the man but he is always in “win now” mode.
I think that they just decided to bring in someone that is already a football player. Obi hasn’t been on the field very long and probably isn’t very diverse as far as experience like these guys who have been at it their whole lives. He’s probably been good at linebacker and only wants to play linebacker because he’s good at it. not because he loves the game and just happens to excel at that position.
just my .02
Happy friday
GO RAIDERS
Play the kid at LB then. Gruden will
Kill the Raiders!!!!
Guy isn’t a football player! He is soft and the only thing consistent about him is he’s always injured!
I’m back! I’m the one who has been trashing Reggie McKenzie’s terrible draft picks since the 2015 draft. Everyone told me how stupid I was for ripping on the great and mighty “Big Reg!”. What do we have to show from the 2015 – 2017 drafts? Almost nothing of value, even in the higher rounds (Karl Joseph is a competent Safety, but nowhere NEAR worth a 1st round pick), with a good portion of the picks completely out of the league already! The latest is this stiff, Obi, who should have NEVER been looked at in the 2nd round. Oh, right…. he can jump REALLY high! Nice. I’ve read where Jihad Ward is likely to be cut after Dallas has failed to get anything out of him. McKenzie is an absolute joke!
He also drafted Carr, Mack, Jackson, Miller, Key, Conley, Hurst, Hall, Cooper, Lee. He’s brought in Lynch, Nelson, Osemele, Hudson, Warren, Richard, Cook, Bryant and cleaned up the salary cap. Yeah, he’s horrible.
@jehu – I said since the 2015 draft (not free agency). Carr and Jackson are 2014, his one and only good draft. Conley has proven nothing, except that he has brittle legs. Hurst and Key haven’t proven anything yet, either. Nelson, Warren, Richard? What? LOL
I whole heartedly agree. Besides Carr he has whiffed on every 2nd round pick. He had one good draft in 2014, but nothing but **** after. I didnt care for their first 3 picks this year and saved grace by getting key and hurst late.
Key was the third….turd…quit hatin’ and get on board…….you ain’t no GM and will never be.
Thats the clean truth!
Obi was being looked at as a possible late 1st rounder. Dallas, Atlanta, and the Steelers were all talking about him. Many experts loved the Raiders taking him in the 2nd and saw it as a great value pick. He had solid college production, a solid week at the Senior Bowl, and off the charts measurables and athleticism from the combine. And the Raiders had a need for a S that could match up with Kelce, Gates, Gronk, etc. It all lined up except for the facts that the guy was always hurt and apparently does not like football. Maybe he needs a new start somewhere else. But Reggies picks from 2015 – 2017 have not been stellar, but he still gets credit for 2014, UDFA’s and FA signings. The biggest knock though is that he has had only 1 winning and playoff season and that is the bottom line.