Raiders say ‘intel’ suggests CB Daryl Worley ‘deserves another chance’, adding to suddenly very competitive CB group

Some of the moves the Raiders have made this offseason have raised some eyebrows. The releases of Michael Crabtree and Marquette King among them. While trying to make sense of them, you figure, ‘ok, Jon Gruden is just taking a no nonsense approach and weeding out bad apples and such.’ Then you see some of the players they are either looking at or signed and you are further confused.

Some questioned the team even hosting former Washington pass rusher Junior Galette for a visit with his checkered past. Then they went and signed Daryl Worley despite a recent arrest that carried as many as six charges with it.

According to reports, police found Worley passed out inside a vehicle blocking an intersection in Philadelphia. He also had a firearm in the car with him. Worley was tasered, arrested. Among his charges included Violation of the Uniform Firearms Act, driving under the influence (DUI), resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct (fighting).

He was then released by the Eagles, who just weeks earlier had traded for him, sending receiver Torrey Smith to the Carolina Panthers.

Just over a week since his arrest and release by the Eagles, the Raiders signed the former third round pick. Jon Gruden spoke on it Tuesday.

“Well we looked into it, and obviously it was an unfortunate matter,” Gruden said of the Worley signing. “We have a lot of intel on Worley with Karl Joseph here who was his teammate at West Virginia. Bruce Irvin played at West Virginia. We have a lot of insight in him. Talked to some of his previous coaches. We think he deserves another chance. We’re happy to give him one. I think he’s learned his lesson. He has to prove that. And he can help us if he’s right.”

Here Gruden sounds a lot like Reggie McKenzie and Jack Del Rio after they drafted Gareon Conley in the first round of last year’s draft. The big difference here is Conley’s situation was merely accusations (which ultimately proved to have no substance). Worley’s situation involves an incident that very much happened and involved an actual arrest with charges.

That being said, if Joseph’s faith in his former West Virginia teammates proves true, the Raiders have a very productive corner in the mix who started 25 games over the past two seasons.

It could be a low risk, high reward addition. For a team with still such a major need at the cornerback position, you can’t argue with giving Worley a shot.

“We got shut out in free agency,” Gruden said of the cornerback position. “We lost TJ Carrie, a guy we really wanted to get back. We let [David] Amerson go. We lost Sean Smith. We lost our top three corners from last year. We had to do something.

“[Gareon] Conley is still not 100 percent, so we had to look at our budget, who was available, how many guys we could acquire.”

Worley will add to the competition behind expected starters Gareon Conley and Rashaan Melvin. Other new additions in the mix include former second round pick Senquez Golson and veterans Shareece Wright (31) and Leon Hall (33). They join incumbent depth players like Antonio Hamilton and Dexter McDonald for a pretty packed group battling for maybe three spots.