The New York Giants made many important personnel moves this past offseason in regards to leadership. The hiring of Joe Judge as their head coach has been met with praise all across the league. So has the choice of former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator.
One move that has sailed under-the-radar has been the selection of Patrick Graham as the team’s defensive coordinator. Maybe that is because Graham’s only body of work in that role came last season when he was at the helm of the Miami Dolphins’ defense, a team that traded away many of their stars in a rebuilding effort.
But Graham is amply qualified for the position. The 41-year-old Yale defensive lineman (where he earned a degree in sociology) has been coaching football since 2002 when he was a graduate assistant at Wagner. Since, he has had a long history of success, most notably as defensive assistant under Bill Belichick in New England and also with the Giants under Ben McAdoo.
That is where Graham came in contact with linebacker Jonathan Casillas, a former Patriot and Giant, who spoke highly of Graham in a recent interview.
“I feel like Pat Graham, he’s learned so much,” Casillas told Giants.com. “He’s a guy that has been so versatile. He was a linebackers coach, a d-line coach, DB (coach) and defensive coordinator, and has kind of been all over the place. But I think that versatility has given him a lot of education in different parts of the game, and that’s going to translate over to him being a great defensive coordinator.”
Casillas went on to explain that Graham has a a way with players in addition to his sharp football mind. That is where the sociology degree comes in.
“It’s not just the x’s and o’s,” he said. “It’s identifying with the players that you have in the locker room. A lot of great coaches sometimes aren’t great player-coaches. You know, not player-friendly… It’s a little bigger than the x’s and o’s. It’s about culture and having the players’ trust and believing in you.
“I think Pat Graham has risen to that to where he’s gotten the defensive coordinator job. The players will believe in him because I feel like he’s a coach who believes in his players. Not the scheme, not that he makes all the good ideas, but the guys that he put in certain positions because of his education and everything that he’s learned. But also, his studying, his due diligence on those guys, that they’ll be put in the right place to win. That’s what the Giants needed.”
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