5 reasons why Jon Gruden, Raiders will win AFC West

3. Different culture in the locker room

The locker room in Oakland was a mess last season, as the coaching staff really had no control over it. That bled its way onto the field, where the Raiders had way too many stupid penalties that destroyed drives.

With a new coaching staff in charge, the Raiders will have much more control in the locker room. Oakland has brought in high quality guys like Jordy Nelson from Green Bay, and he will be quite the leader for the team even in year one with the organization.

It is so important that this team stays tight this season, and they certainly have some hungry players returning. This was a team that was supposed to challenge for a spot in the Super Bowl last season, and the players returning are very embarrassed by what went on in their 6-10 campaign.

Gruden is going to bring a lot of organizational pride to this roster, and that will definitely rub off on the players. One of the key selling points to playing in Oakland was Gruden, and you can best believe he is going to keep this locker room in check in his first season back as head coach.

For years, the Raiders have been way too penalized, and they only were successful really when Gruden was their head coach, or Bill Callahan basically coached his roster. The reason was they had veteran talent in that locker room, and that will certainly be the case in 2018.