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Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made his first interview request as the Minnesota Vikings general manager.
After an introductory press conference where Adofo-Mensah said he would turn over every stone in the team’s search for a new head coach, he’s opted to add another candidate to the running: New York Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
“Giants DC Pat Graham will interview virtually for Minnesota Vikings head coaching vacancy tomorrow, I’m told,” Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News reported, adding that Graham interviewed for the Giants head coach position and the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator opening.
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Graham has 13 years of NFL coaching experience with four teams. He’s made eight playoffs, won seven division titles, two conference championships and a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots.
A Bill Belichick Disciple
A former defensive lineman at Yale, Graham, 42, started his coaching career at the age of 23, bouncing around as an assistant and position coach the college ranks before joining the Bill Belichick-led Patriots in 2009.
He spent seven seasons with the Patriots, working as a defensive assistant in 2010 before coaching linebackers and defensive line the rest of his tenure. From 2016-17 he coached the defensive line for the Giants before joining the Green Bay Packers as linebackers coach/running coordinator.
Graham got his first defensive coordinator gig with the Miami Dolphins in 2019. That year the defense ranked 30th, leading to his departure from Miami and a return to New York. It was a necessary low before he could work wonders with the Giants a year later.
Despite fielding the league’s second-worst offense, the Giants nearly made the playoffs due to the alchemic transformation of the defense.
“In 2020, (Graham) inherited a makeshift Giants defense consisting of mostly young players, unproven players, unwanted players or some combination of all three. The ever-friendly New York media greeted his presence with typical skepticism, pegging that unit, specifically, as a major problem for one of the league’s worst teams,” Sports Illustrated’s Greg Bishop wrote. “This is where he drew up the game plan that altered the trajectory of Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s (previously MVP-worthy) season; where he almost manifested an improbable playoff berth, guiding a flawed defense beyond any reasonable expectation, finishing 2020 ranked 12th in total D (349.3 yards), ninth in scoring D (22.3 points) and eighth in defensive efficiency. With improvements that striking—borderline miraculous—he began fielding calls from franchises in the market for head coaches, which he parlayed into a promotion (to assistant coach), an extension and a raise.”
And again, when New York’s offense ranked 31st in both yards and points in 2021, Graham’s defense posted several of the team’s best marks since 2016, including allowing the ninth-fewest yards per play (5.3) in the league.
His rise was a culmination of countless hours of film study under Belichick and an adoption of a flexible defensive strategy that calls for new schemes each and every week.
“The important thing (Graham) notices: most defensive specialists don’t adjust like Belichick. They use a base structure, either 4-3 or 3-4, with varied coverages and fronts mixed in. His boss changes every week, beginning to play more nickel and dime coverages, sometimes even on first down, before that wrinkle becomes an NFL staple. He collects versatile defensive backs to counter the addition of so many wideouts and rotates players all over the field,” Bishop wrote.
Graham has adopted Belichick’s diligent game-planning practices while shining as a collaborator and a teacher, allowing players to draw up their own ideas. He called one play defensive back Logan Ryan drew up on a napkin against Washington and it netted Ryan an interception.
Graham has earned the nicknames “Black Picasso” and “The Computer” for his creative defensive scheme concepts that he installs in a practical and straightforward manner, per Bishop.
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NFL Scout Lauds Graham
In 2021, the defense kept the Giants competitive in several games when the offense struggled to score points, despite the short or long-term loss of Blake Martinez, Jabrill Peppers, Ryan, Adoree’ Jackson and Lorenzo Carter due to injuries or COVID-19. The Giants finished 21st in the NFL by allowing 354.8 yards a game, but ranked 11th in yards per play (5.3).
The unit battled each and every week against some fo the top teams in the NFL, earning the respect of many scouts in the NFL.
One scout told Chicago Bears insider Brad Biggs about Graham, saying:
“You’ve seen him put together a pretty solid defense, and there are a lot of things to consider there because he’s coaching defense for a team with an offense that is considerably limited, which hurts you as a defensive coordinator. But what he does from a scheme perspective is very good. A lot of two-deep and two-man, a lot of late movement and disguise. Look at what he’s done with his front. He doesn’t have a true pass rusher. He has Leonard Williams, a base 4-3 defensive end that is really more of a five-technique defensive tackle. Williams had, what, (11½) sacks last year?”
The scout noted two strong performances from Graham’s defensive work in New York as examples of what he can do with minimal talent against some of the league’s best quarterbacks:
One of the best tapes to watch if you want to learn more about him are this year against Kansas City and what he did limiting Patrick Mahomes and that Chiefs offense. Now, Kansas City won the game because the Giants can’t move the ball. Last year, the Monday night game against Tampa Bay, I haven’t seen Tom Brady that frustrated in a long time. The Giants got consistent pressure on Brady, did not allow him to manage the pocket, put defenders at his feet the entire game. The Giants lost the game again, but they were right there with the Super Bowl champs. Graham is doing it without a bunch of superstars. I think he’s an excellent coordinator. Very smart. Very detailed. I don’t know how he would be as a leader of the entire football team, but he’s getting the most out of his players, he gets them to play hard and he squeezes every ounce out of those players. People around the league are very high on him.
