Gruden ends Raiders' training camp a day early

Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden ended training camp a day early Thursday when he called off practice.

Gruden did not give a reason for the unexpected move. Fans who showed up to watch were turned away at the gates. Players packed up instead of practicing and left the Napa, Calif., training camp to head back to team headquarters 60 miles south in Alameda.

Gruden sounded satisfied with the Raiders' work when he met the media after Wednesday's practice.

"I'd just like to say that I was really happy with today's practice," he said. "Normally the last real practice at training camp, a lot of people get a little bit distracted. What we did is we went out and really challenged our guys with short yardage, goal-line backed up, two-minute, no-huddle, desperation field goals. Covered a lot of ground. Our guys did a nice job.

"We got our team rejuvenated physically a little bit after two, long, padded practices for the upcoming game."

Canceling Thursday's session gives the players an extra day off before they play the Los Angeles Rams Saturday.

Gruden said earlier in the week that this game is significant to the team as it heads toward the season opener on Sept. 10, also against the Rams.

"It's a preseason game and we have a lot of really tough evaluations to get through," Gruden told reporters. "We're going to really continue to use this as an evaluation. You're going to see a lot of players playing a long period of time that is going to get a chance to show us they belong here. That's how we're looking at this game."

Gruden also briefly discussed the situation with holdout defensive end Khalil Mack. The 2016 Defensive Player of the Year, Mack is holding out in hopes the Raiders will sign him to a big deal. He's entering the final year of his contract and is likely seeking to be the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL.

"I don't think it's been a distraction," Gruden told ESPN. "It's obvious, for me, been disappointing. You want to have your best player here. This guy is really a great guy, too. I'm disappointed we don't have him here. Going to try to get him here as soon as we can. In the time being, you got to move on. You've got to get up and go to work."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)