The Las Vegas Raiders' head coaching position has been a revolving door since Mark Davis took full command of the franchise in 2012.
2025 will mark the third time in three years that the team has a new head coach and general manager to start the season, which is the kind of inconsistency that plagues an organization.
But there could be a holdover through all three staffs in the form of defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
He was initially brought on board by Josh McDaniels in 2022, and was retained by Antonio Pierce when he took the interim job and was eventually promoted to head coach.
While Graham is currently a free agent and able to sign with whatever team he pleases, a return to the Raiders could make sense for him given the chaos that has been this coaching cycle.
Graham denied a contract extension with Las Vegas last season, for unknown reasons, but many thought that he was ready to spread his wings and take a head coaching job.
Unfortunately, Graham did not get the Jacksonville Jaguars head coaching job, which he was seemingly a finalist for. To make matters worse, according to reports, the Jaguars' owner kept him in the dark about their intentions with eventual head coach Liam Coen so that Graham would travel to Jacksonville and interview to fulfill the Rooney Rule requirements.
By waiting it out for the Jaguars head job, Graham missed out on opportunities to take defensive coordinator positions with teams like the Cincinnati Bengals or Atlanta Falcons, two places that he was linked to this offseason.
So, the options are limited for Graham, who was also a finalist for the Seattle Seahawks' head coaching position this time last year.
While it may be a bit of a philosophical change for Graham coaching under Pete Carroll, it would be a stabilizing move in what has been a hectic offseason -- and few years -- for the Raiders.
Las Vegas has so many key free agents on the defensive side of the ball that keeping Graham in-house could provide an incentive for some of those players to stay. After all, the Raiders' strength the last few seasons was their defense.
It may be a long shot, but Graham could be the eventual heir apparent to the Carroll throne if he is patient enough with Las Vegas. He may harbor some frustration with the organization after Antonio Pierce leap-frogged him for the head coaching job, but he might not have too many appealing options at this point in the cycle.