ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Yes, there will be an added sense of urgency come next week's NFL draft for Jon Gruden in his return as Oakland Raiders coach.
And it's not because he will be involved with selecting players for the first time since 2008, when he was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or the expectations that come with his huge contract.
Rather, as Gruden said at the NFL owners meetings, recent Raiders draft picks have not exactly panned out.
"It's one of the reasons we were so busy in free agency," Gruden said.