Patrick Graham will be staying with the Giants. Emerging early as a head coaching prospect, Graham has signed an extension to stay on as the Giants’ defensive coordinator, Dan Duggan of The Athletic tweets.
The Jets requested an interview with Graham, but despite the veteran assistant joining the Giants less than a year ago, he has a new contract and is signed on to lead Big Blue’s defense for at least one more season.
The Giants took a step back on offense this season, dropping from 18th to 31st in points scored. However, they were still — thanks entirely to their historically bad division — in the playoff race until the end because of the defensive improvements they made under Graham.
Arriving after a year as Miami’s DC, Graham oversaw a Big Blue defense lacking on the edge — especially after the midseason Markus Golden trade. The Giants also cut 2019 first-round pick DeAndre Baker before the start of the season, leaving James Bradberry as the team’s only cornerback of note. At season’s end, the Giants ranked ninth in points allowed — a massive jump from allowing the third-most points in 2019. This understandably made Graham a name to watch on the HC carousel.
While the 41-year-old DC figures to be back in HC rumor cycles ahead of the 2022 hiring period, he will be back to build on his work with the Giants this year.
Great news !
Great job by Graham. Defense would be better if they lost one more game and was able to draft Chase Young. Let’s hope by beating Dallas it also doesn’t cost them a great player this years draft.
Can’t worry about that. They’ve had picks in the top 6 the last 3 years and there are still questions on them. Just have to make the right pick.
Love the move, wonder how long the extension is? Hopefully Jason Garrett gets hired anywhere.