New-look nature of Raiders’ defense taking shape with new coordinator

By Case Keefer (contact)

Monday, April 11, 2022 | 2 a.m.

Maxx Crosby first met current Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham when he was a hopeful preparing for the 2019 NFL Draft.

Graham had just been hired as the defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins, which used one of the 30 prospect visits the NFL allots each team on Crosby. So, a big part of the now star edge-rusher’s trip to Miami was an interview with Graham.

“It’s funny because, in our conversation, he was so positive,” Crosby recently reminisced. “He was like, ‘Man, I love your game.’ And it was so overly positive that I thought he was being sarcastic almost. I didn’t know how to read him.”

Local fans and media have gotten a sense of Graham’s enigmatic nature after his first couple of months on the job with the Raiders. In his introductory news conference last month, Graham stressed that he wasn’t committed to recreating in Las Vegas what he did in one season with the Dolphins or in the last two with the New York Giants.

He was neither committed to any specific scheme nor determined to bring in any of his former players to help with the transition to his coaching style.

Then free agency started, and every move the Raiders made defensively fit with Graham’s previous preference of a 3-4 base defense. They also brought in a pair of players who had experience with him including the team’s second-biggest acquisition behind wide receiver Davante Adams — All-Pro edge rusher Chandler Jones.

Graham was Jones’ defensive line coach with the New England Patriots during his first two seasons in the NFL.

“We still had a relationship when I left New England, and it's almost a dream come true that we have this opportunity to be in the same room again, or to be on the same team again,” Jones said of Graham in his introductory news conference. “I saw him in the hallway coming here, and I just gave him a big hug and squeezed him really tight because like I said, who would have thought this would have happened.”

Jones, who comes to the Raiders after six seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, should feel comfortable right away under Graham’s watch but it might take a while for everyone else. Everything points to the upcoming season’s defensive scheme being a drastic departure from the one last year’s coordinator, Gus Bradley, implemented.

Bradley valued simplicity while Graham is known for complexity. The latter downplayed chatter about his penchant for multiple looks last month but also said having players to slot into his usual 3-4 base defense wasn’t important.

Ever since then, the Raiders have done nothing but pick up players who are a match with the 3-4 to further stray from Bradley’s 4-3. It will all start around Crosby, a clear franchise linchpin after signing a four-year, $98 million contract extension shortly before free agency.

The 24-year-old coming off a Pro Bowl MVP performance said he had never played in a 3-4 alignment before at any level of football, but he should be a natural fit with his ability to pressure quarterbacks. Graham’s defense will give Crosby the chance to play like a true modern-day edge rusher.

He led the league in pressures last year according to Pro Football Focus and that was while playing predominantly as a traditional defensive end. Under Graham, Crosby can line up both on the line and at outsider linebacker to attack from more angles — same with Jones.

On the interior line, Graham’s 3-4 is more suited towards big, gap-filling defensive linemen than the quick, undersized corps Bradley brought in last year. That’s why there’s been massive turnover at the position with only veteran Johnathan Hankins currently slated to return from last year’s group.

A trio of new 290-plus pounders in Bilal Nichols, Kyle Peko and Vernon Butler were signed to take the place of the outgoing Quinton Jefferson, Solomon Thomas and Darius Philon (though the last is yet to sign with another team and could conceivably still return).

“Nobody should be able to get blocked one-on-one,” Graham said of what he was looking for in defensive linemen. “It's hard enough to play defense in this league, but if they could go one-for-one with the blocking, then we have to commit extra people, whether it's for the run and then it becomes a problem again because it is a passing league.”

Keeping that in mind is a big reason why Graham has railed against describing his defense as a traditional 3-4. More often than not, he’ll have five defensive backs on the field and only six players up front.

The Raiders appear to have the personnel to make that happen despite coming into free agency with a hole at cornerback. They addressed the need by acquiring a pair of cornerbacks with starting experience.

Las Vegas traded for Rock Ya-Sin from the Colts, in exchange for edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue, and signed former Raven Anthony Averett. Combined with carryovers from last year’s roster in Trayvon Mullen and Nate Hobbs, Graham has a high-upside group to work with.

The spot where the Raiders will likely still need reinforcements is linebacker. They signed a trio between Graham’s former Giants pupil, Kyler Fackrell, alongside Micah Kiser and Jayon Brown but none of them are sure starters next to incumbent Pro Bowler Denzel Perryman and late-season breakout Divine Deablo.

Between this month’s NFL Draft and $20 million in salary cap space freeing up in June when the contracts of cut linebackers Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski come off the books, there’s still plenty of time for Las Vegas to address its needs. But Graham already has a strong starting point with plenty of pieces in place.

“He’s a great coach,” Ya-Sin said of Graham. “The whole defensive staff, offensive staff, too. A lot of really, really great coaches. Really big-name guys who are well-respected around the league so I’m just looking forward to learning from these guys whatever scheme we’re playing, whatever defense we’re playing.”

The first thing Graham told Crosby when he took the Las Vegas job was to ignore all the chatter about the scheme. The coach said his emphasis was simply putting his players, especially Crosby, into the best position to succeed.

Crosby might not have known what to make of Graham when he first met him three years ago, he’s no longer suspicious of his new coach’s enthusiasm after some time on the job. He knows Graham is nothing but genuine when it came to his excitement over joining the Raiders.

“He called me right away and was like, ‘Man, I told you. I’ve been wanting to coach you,’” Crosby said. “It’s just crazy how things work out.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or