Raiders top pick cornerback Gareon Conley to have surgery on injured shin today

It’s still a bit of a mystery to the general public what exactly is wrong with Gareon Conley’s shin, but it would seem at least doctors have figured it out. Monday he will be having surgery to fix it, Conley announced on his Instagram account this morning.

A week ago, during their bye, the Raiders finally gave up on the hopes Conley would return this season and placed him on injured reserve.

Conley was the team’s top pick in this year’s draft at 24 overall. He was looking promising through the offseason before suffering the shin injury in June minicamps.

Every step of the way, the team thought Conley would return in short order. First, they said he would be back for training camp. Then midway through camp, GM Reggie McKenzie said he had shin splints and would be back soon.

Conley didn’t participate in camp, but returned just prior to the start of the season. He missed the season opener, played in two games, aggravated the injury, and never returned.

Surgery is actually good news, because it means the problem has been discovered and it fixable. He can recover over the remainder of the season and into the offseason, and hopefully be ready to go when the team begins offseason activities in April.