Raiders’ gamble on Gareon Conley pays off with no indictment

NAPA, Calif. I wonder if Reggie McKenzie is the kind of guy who stands on a soft 18 or hits when the dealer shows 9.

When it comes to gambling, it seems the general manager of the Raiders has a knack for reading certain situations.

He did so by never wavering in his belief of cornerback Gareon Conley, not since selecting him in the first round of the NFL draft in April and not as a police investigation that stemmed from a woman accusing the player of rape in a Cleveland hotel room continued the past three months.

On Monday, all that confidence and conviction exhibited by the team that Conley would be cleared was rewarded with the sort of ace-king hand the Raiders seemed to expect all along.

Silver and Blackjack, is right.

A grand jury in Ohio chose not to indict Conley, meaning the only thing standing in the way of him being on the field at training camp are those annoying shin splints that have landed him on the physically unable to perform list.

No arrests were made in the case and no charges were filed. It had all the makings of a district attorney not wanting to be the one directly deciding the fate of a high-profile athlete that starred at Ohio State, and instead handing investigative findings off to a grand jury in Cuyahoga County.

By the time the dinner bell rang in Ohio on Monday, a huge sigh of relief had sifted through training camp at the Napa Valley Marriott.

“I’m excited for (Conley),” McKenzie said. “It’s tough on a young man to go through this. I’m excited for Gareon and the Raiders for the process to work. We can move forward. We just trusted our process, really. We felt going into it with all the information we got it would come out this way. I’m glad it worked out.”

This was a different sort of process to trust than the 76ers figuring out how to build an NBA winner.

This was the Raiders doing their due diligence and believing in their research and reports and every last letter of information they could gather on Conley and the incident, all the while understanding the enormous risk of essentially forfeiting a first-round pick had the data proved unreliable.

If anything, Conley was guilty of lacking serious common sense by putting himself in such a situation weeks from a draft in which he was guaranteed to become a multimillionaire.

But the Raiders had to be right on him.

You can’t swing and miss on something so critical when insisting you’re so right.

I’m also guessing the fact Conley passed a polygraph test (requested by another team) before the draft helped strengthen McKenzie’s resolve in selecting him No. 24 overall.

Which brings us to the next step: He really needs to be on the field.

Secondary desperate for help

The Raiders might be a Super Bowl contender but theirs is not a Super Bowl defense, one still not settled at middle linebacker and coming off a season that saw it surrender far too many points and big plays on the back end.

They weren’t very good at all in the secondary, allowing a league-worst 61 pass plays of at least 20 yards.

You figure Conley, who signed a four-year rookie contract worth $10.5 million, will begin by playing slot corner in sub packages, but he’s also skilled and athletic enough to push starters Sean Smith and David Amerson on the outside.

That is, when he actually begins practicing.

“I think for any football player, what they do is play ball,” defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said. “The only place they have to get better is on the field. I don’t think anyone is going to get better by not playing. When they show up, I’m ready to coach them.

“I think in minicamp, we were all happy (with Conley). He can run. Everyone saw him move and catch and learn. Very happy with his length and his speed and his ability to jump in and play on the inside or outside. We really like what we see.”

Norton spoke before news broke about the grand jury choosing not to indict, and team officials at that point said there would be no comment on Conley’s situation.

Minutes later, tweets began flowing across smartphones about a decision in Ohio.

Shortly after, a smiling McKenzie addressed the media. Conley’s attorney released a statement about vindication and his client looking forward to the season.

“My mom always tells me to keep faith, and I thank God the call (from the Raiders) came,” Conley said via conference call on draft night. “I’m very confident this will be resolved with all the evidence I have.”

It was like the Raiders hit on 18 and a bunch of folks thousands of miles away dealt them a 3.

For a team that will eventually call Las Vegas home, it didn’t hedge for a second when gambling on Gareon Conley.

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.