A crop harvesting header, the top conditioning roll is set back from a conventional position slightly leading the bottom roller so as to instead reside directly over or slightly rearward of the bottom roller, whereby rejection of crop material back into the cutting zone by the top roller is reduced. A rear deflector compensates for a resulting lack of upward trajectory of crop material from the nip, acting to impart a lifting action to same as it exits the rear of the header. Concentrated streams of crop material from pairs of counter-rotating disks may be broken up by a rotational action of the deflector. A front deflector may be included to further prevent crop rejection by the top roller by directing lifted crop material downwardly toward the nip to avoid contact with an upper front quadrant of the top roller.
