It has been almost a century since the Oakland Raiders last had a legitimate talent at cornerback. Gareon Conley‘s presence brings hope of a bright future at the position, so is he the next great cornerback for the Silver and Black?
After watching what has been a long and eventful offseason for the Oakland Raiders we have finally arrived to training camp. Many expectations have been placed on these players for the 2019 season with Gareon Conley having one of the highest on the team. Last season shined a light on Conley’s talent or rather he finally got the chance to demonstrate it. Thanks to his strong performance, 2019 breeds hope that he will continue to improve upon himself by reaching elite status.
It’s definitely not a far fetched hope because Conley does possess phenomenal talent. As a matter of fact, he’s been the best cornerback the Raiders have had since Nnamdi Asomugha despite it being a small sample size.
Considering that fact, is Gareon Conley the Oakland Raiders next great cornerback?
In terms of him being great, I truly do believe so barring any injuries of course. However, calling him the next great Oakland Raiders cornerback is a complete stretch. Foreseeing Conley in a Raiders jersey once his rookie deal is up is a complete toss up. Assuming he is among the elites, I’d bet on Jon Gruden letting him walk for a number reasons.
First off, Gareon Conley isn’t Gruden’s guy. It’s been evident that if a player wasn’t taken or signed by Gruden, then they’re expendable. There will always be references that Conley was a Reggie McKenzie pick, thus Gruden lucked out.
It’s not really a bad thing, but it’s clearly been something that Gruden doesn’t fully tolerate. That’s why we saw him cut, trade or bury so many of McKenzie’s picks last season in favor of the one’s he personally brought in. It’s most likely why he didn’t want to pick up Karl Joseph‘s fifth year deal on his rookie contract.
Second, elite cornerbacks almost always will look for a hefty contract. Hometown discounts are very rare to find among the elite players in this position. I highly doubt that Jon Gruden will be willing to invest so much money into one player on the defense since we already have seen one instance of this nearly a year ago.
Signing cornerbacks to extremely heavy deals does more damage to a defense than good. Sure, they’ll take away one receiver, but what about the rest?
Just look at the current top paid cornerbacks. Josh Norman, Trumaine Johnson, Patrick Peterson and Xavien Howard are four of the top five highest paid. How are those teams fairing? There is no point paying so much money for an elite cornerback when the rest of the product is horrific.
I love my cornerbacks, but throwing the brinks truck to just one cornerback has hardly worked out for teams. It would be fantastic for Gareon Conley to be the next Oakland Raiders great, but that means he will be an elite player looking for a huge payout.