Tag: Gareon Conley

Former Ohio State cornerback retires from NFL

Best of luck to Conley going forward! #GoBucks

Former Ohio State cornerback Gareon Conley is retirng from the NFL acording to multiple reports. The news ends Conley’s efforts to make a comeback in the NFL after not being a part of the League since 2019.

Conley was originally drafted in the first round by the Oakland Raiders in 2017, but was traded to the Houston Texans in 2019. An ankle injury ended his run in Houston and then he went without a team for three years before getting another shot to play professionally with the D.C. Defenders of the UFL this spring.

He must have made an impression because he was picked up by the Dallas Cowboys and participated in the first three days of fall camp before informing the organization that he would be retiring. The Cowboys then released Conley to make room on the roster.

We’ll see what Conley gets involved in next ane will continue to follow any other notable news with former Buckeyes in the NFL.

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Cowboys release former 1st-round pick before Day 4 of camp practices

The Cowboys gave the former Ohio State Buckeye a shot, but he was unable to capitalize and will now be a free agent. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys gave it a chance, but have decided to move in another direction. The organization kicked the tires on former Oakland Raiders first-round pick Gareon Conley this summer, hoping to unearth the potential that made him a tantalizing prospect during the 2017 draft season. The former Ohio State cornerback was taken No. 24 overall.

He lasted three years in the league , playing through 2019 and was most recently in the UFL, where he caught the attention of Dallas’ pro scouts. Unfortunately it looks like he did not show enough to the coaching staff and was released on Sunday.

Conley was trying to earn a spot on a top-heavy cornerback depth chart headlined by Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland, two All-Pro cornerbacks. Diggs has yet to practice, being placed on the PUP list following his early-2023 ACL tear that knocked him out of the final 15 games of last season.

He’s expected to be back to practice sooner rather than later. Aside from the two interception kings, Dallas also has Jourdan Lewis and Caelen Carson locked in for roster spots, with a competition for fifth and further on the chart.

Former 1st-round pick hoping to get career back on track with the Cowboys

Gareon Conley was a first round pick in 2017.

The UFL is proving to be an excellent route back to the NFL for several former players and even one who was a first-round pick. Cornerback Gareon Conley was a first-round pick back in 2017 but after a four-year absence has found his way back to the league after signing with the Dallas Cowboys.

Conley played his college football at Ohio State but a shin injury derailed his rookie season with the Raiders. However, Conley came back strong and looked like he was on track for big things in 2018.

But the injury bug could never escape Conley and ultimately it put him out of the league after the 2020 season.

Conley found his way to the DC Defenders in late 2023 and in seven games he had two interceptions, two passes defended and 25 tackles. Now he joins the Cowboys and where he hopes he can make the 53-man roster and get his NFL career back on track at the age of 28.

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Former Ohio State football star is back in the NFL

Former Ohio State star is back in the NFL #GoBucks

The inaugural season of the United Football League is complete and by most accounts it was a great success. A big reason for thie league is to help football players continue their professional careers and hopefully get a shot back in the NFL.

One former Buckeye made the most of his opportunity with the D.C. Defenders this season and has now earned a contract with the Dallas Cowboys. Gareon Conley was a phenomenal defensive back during his Ohio State days and parlayed that success into becoming a first round selection by the Oakland Raiders. He struggled with injuries and was eventually traded to the Houston Texans. He again struggled to stay on the field and was out of the NFL.

Conley had a great season with D.C. in the UFL and at only 28 years old still has plenty of time to turn his career around. It is unreasonable to expect him to live up to his first round selection, but Conley has all of the skills to be a consistent contributor for Dallas.

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Former Raiders first round pick Gareon Conley signs with Cowboys

Raiders former first round pick signs resurfaces with Cowboys

We’ve got a Gareon Conley sighting. Today the Cowboys signed Conley to the team’s offseason roster.

Conley is most notable as having been selected by the Raiders with the 24th overall pick in the 2017 draft. Then lasting just three seasons in the NFL before flaming out.

He lost his rookie season almost entirely with a mysterious ankle injury that GM Reggie McKenzie famously referred to as “shin splints” and then Conley infamously said was “fake news”.

His second season he started 14 games and had three interceptions. Then midway through his third season, he was traded to the Texans. He would last just eight games in Houston. He was placed in injured reserve prior to the start of the 2020 season and never played another down in the NFL.

He is widely considered one of the biggest busts among Raiders more recent first round picks.

Most recently Conley played in the UFL for the DC Defenders. He is still just 28 years of age.

Cowboys sign former Raiders 1st-round pick after UFL stint

From @ToddBrock24f7: Gareon Conley won a national title with Ohio State in 2014 and spent 23 games as a Raider. Now a UFL veteran, he’ll join the Cowboys.

The Cowboys completed a second signing on Tuesday, adding another UFL player to its ranks with a little over a month to go before training camp.

Cornerback Gareon Conley has come to terms with the team, as first reported by Patrik Walker of dallascowboys.com. News of his signing comes just hours after linebacker Willie Harvey Jr. inked a deal with the club.

Conley was a first-round draft pick of the Raiders in 2017. The former Ohio State Buckeye, who had won a college national championship as a redshirt freshman, played 23 games for the silver and black, making 20 starts and logging four interceptions over three seasons. Houston traded for him midway through the 2019 season, but Conley played just eight games with the Texans and then spent most of 2020 on injured reserve after a serious ankle injury.

He logged two interceptions this spring for the UFL’s DC Defenders.

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Conley was one of four UFL players- including Harvey- to work out for the Cowboys last week. He’ll join a talented- and somewhat crowded- cornerbacks group led by Trevon Diggs, DaRon Bland, and Jourdan Lewis.

Veteran special teams ace C.J. Goodwin, Nahshon Wright, Eric Scott Jr., Josh Butler, UDFA Josh DeBerry, and fifth-round draft pick Caelen Carson will also be in the mix at the position when the team reconvenes in Oxnard, Calif.

The 28-year-old Conley comes in with some familiarity with at least one of his Cowboys coaches. His defensive coordinator with the Raiders in 2018 and 2019 was Paul Guenther; Guenther is now the Cowboys’ defensive run game coordinator.

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Cowboys work out 4 UFL defenders, including 2 former 1st-round draft picks

From @ToddBrock24f7: CBs Deandre Baker and Gareon Conley were 1st-round picks in the NFL. Their workouts Tuesday could be the first step toward a comeback bid.

Cowboys management loves to say that player evaluation happens 365 days a year. What they never mention is that some of those days are slightly busier than others.

Tuesday was one of those days. The team hosted four defensive players from the UFL- DC Defenders cornerback Deandre Baker, DC Defenders cornerback Gareon Conley, Michigan Panthers linebacker Noah Dawkins, and St. Louis Battlehawks linebacker Willie Harvey Jr.- for workouts at The Star in Frisco as the team prepares for training camp in late July.

All have at least some level of experience with NFL clubs; two of them were first-round draft picks at one point before their careers took a detour.

Baker was taken in the first round of the 2019 draft by the Giants. A Jim Thorpe Award winner and consensus All-American at Georgia, New York actually traded up to get him. But an arrest before his second season landed him on the commissioner’s exempt list, and the Giants waived him shortly thereafter. He made the Chiefs practice squad toward the end of the 2020 season and got back onto the field in late 2021, but a broken femur cut his comeback bid short. 2024 was his first year back in football; he was named to the inaugural All-UFL Team.

Conley was a first-round draft pick of the Raiders in 2017. The former Ohio State Buckeye played 23 games for the silver and black, making 20 starts and logging four interceptions over three seasons. The Houston Texans traded for him midway through the 2019 season, but he played just eight games with the club and spent most of 2020 on injured reserve. He logged two interceptions for the 4-6 Defenders this spring.

Dawkins was impressive enough coming out of The Citadel to be ranked in Mel Kiper Jr.’s Top 300 in 2019, but he went undrafted. He spent that summer in camp with the Bengals, then signed with Tampa Bay. After one season, he joined the Jets, where he stayed through the 2021 season. After a camp stint with Chicago in 2022, he moved to the USFL’s Panthers. This spring, he recorded 38 tackles for 7-3 Michigan under former Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.

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Harvey was an undrafted free agent out of Iowa State in 2019 and spent three seasons in the Browns organization. This spring was his second season with the Battlehawks and his league-leading 76 tackles earned him an All-UFL nod.

Per the team website, the Cowboys currently have just two open roster spots with about six weeks to go before training camp opens in Oxnard, Calif.

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Former Ohio State football star signs with XFL

A former Ohio State star gets an opportunity in the #XFL. #GoBucks

The XFL 3.0 just ended its first season and it was an extreme success. It saw two former Ohio State football players really shine when given an opportunity in the upstart league with Rod Smith starting for the Vegas Vipers and Antwuan Jackson for the Seattle Sea Dragons.

Jackson shined so bright he was actually able to parlay that opportunity into an NFL shot with the Carolina Panthers, which is ultimately the goal for most of these players. The XFL, which is owned by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has announced that there will be a season in 2024. The league is already beginning the process of adding free agents.

One of the largest free agents of note for the D.C. Defenders is former Ohio State cornerback, Gareon Conley. The former All-Big Ten defensive back has not had the smoothest NFL career. After being drafted in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders, Conley was not horrible, but not at the quality of a first-round selection. As a result, they elected to trade him to the Houston Texans in 2019.

Conley was again OK in Houston — he continued to deal with some injuries and his final season in the NFL was in 2020. He is still only 28 years old and has some juice left in the football tank, so getting another shot in the XFL appears to be an ideal situation. But he did not seem sold on the situation according to his X account, formerly known as Twitter.

I’m unsure why Conley has labeled the situation as “complex,” but we wish him good luck.

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Should the Texans bring back CB Gareon Conley?

The Houston Texans have decisions to make at cornerback, and one of them is whether or not to re-sign Gareon Conley.

The Houston Texans have a bevy of roster decisions to make as the new regime attempts to recovery from a disappointing, franchise-altering 4-12 finish from a year ago.

One of those decisions will be what to do with cornerback Gareon Conley, who spent the entire 2020 campaign rehabilitating from an ankle surgery in the offseason.

According to Pro Football Focus, Conley, who is ranked at No. 90 among their top 101 free agents, ought to get another shot with the Texans, preferably with a one-year contract worth $2.5 with a cool million guaranteed.

A former first-round pick, Conley has had his ups and downs, grading out at 64.5 and 64.0 in his two full seasons. He missed all of the 2020 season. Conley is better in man coverage, as he’s graded in the 69th percentile in single coverage compared to just the 37th percentile in zone since entering the league. He’s also forced incompletions on 22.2% of his targets, the second-best rate in the NFL since 2017. Conley is worth a look in a man-heavy system. 

If Conley isn’t a fit for Lovie Smith’s new defensive scheme, the Tampa-2, then he won’t get another shot in Houston. The Texans may have to use free agency and the draft to upgrade the position and find the players that work best in the new defensive system.

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6 potentially inexpensive free agent candidates for the Cardinals

The Cardinals may not have a ton of cap room this offseason – here are six players that could help and not cost a ton of cap space.

The Arizona Cardinals enter the NFL offseason without a lot of money to spend on free agency. They do not have that much cap space. That could change with a few moves, but those may or may not happen, and there are a few holes the Cardinals could look to fill.

Since they might not be able to target many higher-priced free agents, here are some potentially less expensive free agents they could target next month.