It goes without saying that Oakland Raiders' cornerback Gareon Conley has had a rough start to his career. Fortunately, head coach Jon Gruden still has big plans for him in the 2018 NFL season.

Ever since his arrival, Gruden has raved about Conley's potential as a shutdown corner. According to Tyler Green of Silver and Black Pride, he even went so far as to say Oakland will build its secondary around the young corner:

“Conley’s practicing now,” Gruden continued. “He’s at full speed, he’s at full strength, and you talk about a huge addition to our team. It starts with Gareon Conley who missed almost all of it last year. This is a shutdown corner. He’s a guy that we’re gonna build our secondary around.”

While Gruden's comments may be a bit bold, they certainly are not surprising. The Raiders had taken Conley with the 24th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.

The tumultuous start to his career got worse when he missed the season opener with a shin injury. Unfortunately, the issue would continue to linger and his rookie campaign was ultimately cut short when the Raiders placed him on injured reserve midway through the season.

It goes without saying that Oakland has had some issues with their secondary for quite some time now. However, it appears the team is confident that they have finally found a solid piece to build this group around. If Conley can show signs of becoming a lockdown defender, it will pay huge dividends for their team's potential turnaround this season.