It’s been two months and, as of Monday, 10 days since Raiders cornerback Gareon Conley met with police regarding an allegation of sexual assault that emerged in the days prior to the draft. Conley’s lawyer expected an answer within 6-8 weeks after the meeting. As of Monday, 10 weeks will have passed since Conley’s interview with authorities.
Late last week, a league source with knowledge of the situation told PFT that there has been no news regarding whether Conley will be charged. Meanwhile, Conley still hasn’t signed a rookie contract, presumably because the Raiders would prefer that he be cleared before they give him a signing bonus of more than $5.5 million along with other guarantees.
The clock is starting to tick, fairly loudly. Training camp opens on July 29; this means that, as of Monday, only 19 days will remain before the situation officially becomes a distraction.
Conley is entitled to the Constitutional presumption of innocence and all other protections that apply in a court of law. But if the allegation of sexual assault leads to formal charges, the distraction instantly will become a major problem, for Conley, the Raiders, and the NFL.
