With the current state of the New York Giants, it’s not surprising that the team’s most valuable coordinator could jump to greener pastures. The Giants managed to avoid that last season, when Patrick Graham turned down the chance to interview for the Jets head coaching job, but it doesn’t look like that will be the case this year. According to Dan Duggan of the Athletic, the current outlook is that Graham will at least listen to offers.
Giants DC Patrick Graham said “the idea is to be a head coach one day.” He made it sound like he’ll at least listen if teams come calling after the season. Graham turned down an interview request from the Jets last offseason.
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) January 6, 2022
What are the chances that Patrick Graham leaves?
Out of the head coach and both coordinators this season, Graham is the only one to not receive significant pushback from the fans and experts. Jason Garrett is out of a job for his performance, and Joe Judge has recently added press conference controversies to his record which also includes poor on-the-field results. It’s not very controversial to say that Graham is the best part of the staff right now, and will almost certainly return if he doesn’t take another job.
With that being said, it’s unclear if there will be any offers that could lure Graham away. It looks like only a head coaching job could do the trick, and Graham isn’t as much of a hot commodity as he was last offseason. That’s not to say that it’s entirely Graham’s fault. While the Giants defense has taken a step back this year, the entire roster has also been performing worse and injuries have taken out several key players.
And with quite possibly the worst offense in the NFL, you can’t really blame the Giants defense for not carrying the team further. Even with a great defense, the offense still has to put up points to secure a win.
Graham’s name might not be circulating around the league as much as it was in 2020, but at the end of the day, his track record is still intriguing enough that it’s not impossible for him to emerge as a candidate with a team willing to look past this season’s drop in performance.
After all, it’s easy to see that a defense run by Graham would be more effective if not tied to an offense that can’t score points or stay on the field and provide time to rest.