Former Ohio State football player retires just a month after signing with team

Playing in the NFL is not easy. Ohio State football players just make it look easy. Every year, the Buckeyes put in elite players into the NFL Draft. Not only do they get players into the Draft, but most of those players play at least two or three seasons in the NFL.

Gareon Conley was one of those great Ohio State cornerbacks in the late 2010s who was a first-round pick. He was taken by the Raiders back in 2017 with the 24th overall pick. Unfortunately, he was never really able to make a major impact at the next level.

Conley spent just three seasons in Oakland before he moved on to Houston after he was traded to the Texans. He was only healthy for one of the seasons he played there. After the 2020 season, he wasn't able to find an NFL team to sign with. He didn't play football for almost three years.

Former Ohio State football player Gareon Conley will retire

Conley finally played in the UFL last season and played well enough to earn an NFL contract. He signed with the Dallas Cowboys and it looked like he was going to get a second chance at reviving his NFL career. At 29, time is running out for him to play at a high level.

Just a month after signing that deal, Conley has informed the Cowboys that he plans to retire. He won't get that chance to excel in the NFL after all. He must have seen how good these players are in the NFL and decided that he was better off retiring.

It's a shame that Conley's NFL career didn't pan out the way that Ohio State football fans thought it would. He was still a great Buckeye and his contributions to Ohio State won't be forgotten. He was part of some of the best secondaries that the Buckeyes have ever had.

We hope that Conley has made peace with this decision and he is ready to move into the next phase of his life.