Oakland Raiders secondary in flux with Gareon Conley, Jonathan Abram injuries

The Oakland Raiders have picked the wrong week to potentially go without two of their most impressive performers in the secondary: Gareon Conley and Jonathan Abram.

The Oakland Raiders looked solid in Week 1 in the season-opening victory over the Denver Broncos. Not only did the offense come up big against a solid Denver pass rush and secondary, but the Raiders own pass defense looked good against new starting quarterback Joe Flacco.

This week, however, presents a test on a different level. The Raiders host the Kansas City Chiefs early in the season for the first of their two divisional matchups. Unfortunately for Oakland, two of their best performers in the secondary could be forced to miss the game entirely.

Rookie safety Johnathan Abram is already a known quantity. He will miss the game along with the rest of the regular season after tearing his rotator cuff in the Monday Night Football win over Denver. Abram might be new to the NFL, but his aggressive, physical presence was already showing itself to be a game-changer against the Broncos when he went down.

Alongside Lamarcus Joyner, Abram had helped turn around the back end of the Raiders defense into something fearsome. He was the last of the three first round picks the Raiders used this last spring.

Then there’s Gareon Conley, a cornerback who left the field on a stretcher after injuring his neck against Denver—interestingly enough, it was after Abram accidentally rolled into his while making a tackle. Given his need for a stretcher, it was easy to assume that Conley would be out for a significant amount of time, but it’s looking questionable at this stage.

When speaking with reporters on Tuesday, head coach Jon Gruden stated that nothing was certain yet on Conley’s availability.

"“I’m glad to say that Gareon Conley seems to be doing okay,” Gruden said “I think there’s a chance he might be able to play this week, but we’ll have to update his status.”"

The injuries might match up a bit for both teams given that the Chiefs are coming in a bit wounded. They will be without their best pass catcher in Tyreek Hill, who will reportedly miss 4-6 weeks with a sternoclavicular injury, which means K.C.’s offense won’t be quite as potent. Then again, it remains to be seen whether Mecole Hardman can step in and take on Hill’s role.

The Raiders and Chiefs play on Sunday, September 15 at 3:05 p.m. C.T.