Raiders 4th round CB Nick Nelson won’t participate in offseason program rehabbing torn meniscus

There have been some prospects of late who are refusing team visits. What happened to Nick Nelson is a good reason why. He tore his meniscus while working out for the Lions a few weeks ago, potentially affecting his draft stock. And he’s lucky it wasn’t worse.

The 5-11, 208-pound corner was the Raiders’ 4th round selection in the draft, but he won’t be taking the field next week with the team’s other rookies. And he doesn’t expect to see the field until training camp.

“It was always a six-week process and this is my second one, so about four more weeks,” Nelson said of his recovery time. That recovery time will take him through to June minicamp when the team would be very unlikely to throw him out on the field.

“I’ll be good to go in the summer,” he continued. “By fall camp, I’ll be 100 percent.”

Nelson said he thinks without the injury he may have been a round 1-2 selection, although most projections I’ve seen have him being drafted right about where he was even before the injury, which is not expected to carry long term effects.

Nelson’s status was likely affected by the fact that he had zero interceptions in three college seasons at Hawaii and Wisconsin. The Raiders like him because he has 42 passes defended in his career and held up extremely well against first round pick DJ Moore when they matched up against each other.