Raiders Coaching Staff: Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham
After previewing all of the Las Vegas Raiders opponents for the 2022 season, we’re shifting gears and looking into the coaching staff for the Silver and Black.
We continue the series by previewing the defensive staff for the Raiders.
Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham
Patrick Graham will be at the helm of the new Raiders defense as the defensive coordinator.
Graham dates back with head coach Josh McDaniels all the way to 2012, during both of their days with the New England Patriots.
In 2016, Graham moved to the New York Giants to be their defensive line coach before spending time with the Green Bay Packers as the inside linebackers coach/defensive run game coordinator.
In 2019, Graham earned his first defensive coordinator job in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins.
The past two seasons, he returned to the Giants as their defensive coordinator.
Nicknamed “The Black Picasso” by players due to the ‘artful’ plays Graham draws up, his focus first and foremost is to be a teacher to his entire defense.
"What we do is we develop lesson plans and try to implement what we want to see out there on the field," Graham said. "What we try to do with our lesson plans is teach the guys conceptual football, teach them situational football, all the stuff [Head Coach] Josh [McDaniels] talked about – us being a smart, tough football team – just making sure we're getting that stuff down. And then from there it grows.”
"It evolves more over time than say, creation,” Graham continued. “We're trying to evolve the defense as opposed to creating new things every week. That's a big part of what we do, and it starts with the conceptual learning early on."
One of the things he’s looking forward to is developing and teaching the leader of the Silver and Black’s defensive line, defensive end Maxx Crosby.
"Guys that have been productive in the league, they've proven that they can do it in the league. Obviously, each year is new and they're going to have to prove it all over again," Graham said. "That's the beauty of this league. But in terms of looking at Maxx, obviously he's long, great motor, a lot of stuff to work with there. ... I'm just excited because the times I've been around him, he seems like great energy."
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