Las Vegas Raiders superstar Maxx Crosby has been justifiably frustrated with the organization's frequent turnover in recent years.
While many coaches and players have come and gone during his six seasons, he remains the constant figure in the organization.
The overnight news that defensive coordinator Patrick Graham is being retained by the new regime, allows Crosby to continue in the same defense, under the same defensive coordinator he's had for more than half of his career.
The Graham-Crosby leadership tandem can now continue on the defensive side of the ball. Their relationship can continue to grow.
Graham becomes the longest-tenured Raiders defensive coordinator since Rob Ryan's four-year stint 20 years ago.
It speaks volumes that Patrick Graham has remained the leader of the Raiders defense through three different head coaches, general managers and coaching staffs. In an age where new regimes want to hire their own people, it's completely unheard of in today's NFL.
This is a win for the Raiders. He has an exceptional reputation across the league. In the past two years, the Chargers, Vikings, Giants, Bengals, Jaguars and Seahawks have all interviewed Graham for head coach.
He's entering his 7th consecutive season as an NFL defensive coordinator. His defenses have been average to good, with flashes of being great. For a team that loses more than it wins in recent decades, it's encouraging what he's done so far in his tenure.
In the past two seasons, the Raiders ranked 8th in 2023 and 18th in 2024 in DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average - a metric used to determine how a defense performs relative to league average).
We saw signs of just how good Graham's defense could be during the post-McDaniels part of the 2023 season, where the Raiders led the entire NFL in defensive touchdowns scored (four) and ranked tied for third in sacks (30).
More impressively, the Raiders led the NFL in fewest points per game allowed (16) in those 9 games in 2023. The significance of this cannot be understated. As of that season, 16 of the prior 23 Super Bowl champions had a top-ten defense in points allowed.
Injuries impacted things in 2024, but despite that, the Raiders were 14th in total defense, gave up the 8th least amount of first downs, 15th in pass completions and 15th in yards allowed. Middle of the league, which is a win to me, given how everything else went last season.
Patrick Graham was the best available defensive coordinator in the league, and Peter Carroll, who is the father of the famous Legion of Boom defense in Seattle, has made his first big step toward building a credible defense in Las Vegas.