The Oakland Raiders were confident in Gareon Conley on and off the field when they drafted him. On the field, he’s the best CB in this draft and off, there were confident his rape accusations were baseless. Conley’s lawyer expected the matter to be resolved in 6-8 weeks from then with no arrest.
And since the Raiders believe in his innocence, they expected Conley to be in the clear by now. But it has been 10 weeks and as of right now, there is no end or clearance to this situation in site. That doesn’t mean he’s more or less likely to be charged with a crime but it could be a big blow to the Raiders.
It’s not a major blow here in early July but it is if he hasn’t been cleared by the 29th. That’s when training camp starts and when it becomes a distraction as the team answers questions about it. It’s hard to prove innocence, especially when Conley admitted to a “consensual sexual event.”
Prosecuting DAs do everything in their power to make sure the accused are at least brought to trial. They don’t eat unless there is a trial to find out if Conley is guilty, nevermind what’s at stake for him. So we could have an overzealous prosecuting DA, trying to get a trail, holding out hope to press charges.
Then comes the issue of playing Conley, who still hasn’t signed a rookie contract because of this ordeal. The Raiders don’t want to give him a $5.5 million signing bonus and other guarantees before he’s cleared. It could also be PR nightmare if feminist organizations start to form in opposition of Conley.
And God forbid he’s innocent but still found guilty.
A trail possibly during the season is bad enough!
If he’s not cleared pretty soon, Conley and the Raiders could have problems.
Did the Raiders make a mistake?
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