The Raiders held their last mini camp practice Thursday and the players have the next six weeks off, until the start of training camp. Minicamp always ends with coaches messages of ‘stay out of trouble’ which means no run-ins with the law. Rookie Gareon Conley has been dealing with a legal situation and the Raiders are hoping the headlines are good.
In early May, Conley’s lawyer Kevin Spellacy told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that it would be 6-8 weeks until the case was resolved (as noted by Raidersbeat.com).
Lawyer Kevin Spellacy told me it’ll be 6-8 weeks before Gareon Conley’s legal situation is resolved. It’ll be reviewed by county prosecutor.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 1, 2017
That was nearly 7 weeks ago which means Conley’s legal status should be determined within the next couple weeks. The Raiders are hoping that he is their only player to be in the news for legal issues and that those issues are put behind him.
When the Raiders drafted Conley 24th overall in April’s draft, they did so knowing he faced an allegation of sexual assault . The Raiders scouts and front office did their research into both Conley as a person and the credibility of the accusation. What they found made them feel comfortable enough to use a very valuable first round pick on him.
“I understand the issues involved,” Oakland GM Reggie McKenzie said after the draft. “But we did our research, and we read all the reports, and we did more than our due diligence. After all the information we got, we were comfortable with making this choice and confident in who this player is.”
The sentiment around the league has been that even if charges are filed that Conley will not miss any playing time in his first season due to the incident ‘happening before he was in the NFL’. The league has set a precedent for punishment of offenses that took place prior to a player entering the NFL. In 2011 the NFL upheld the NCAA’s 5 game suspension on then Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor for exchanging memorabilia for tattoo’s.
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