Aug 23, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham against the Arizona Cardinals during a preseason NFL game at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Steelers First DC Candidate Emerges

Originally posted on Pittsburgh Steelers on SI
By Noah Strackbein | Last updated Jan 27, 2026 7:54 AM ET

The Pittsburgh Steelers are now looking to fill Mike McCarthy's staff as they finalize their coaches for 2026 and begin to turn focus toward their roster before the NFL Combine.

While hiring a staff is complicated to begin with, the Steelers are looking for candidates who already have jobs with other teams. Because of that, their task is a little bit more difficult to try and land some of McCarthy's top options.

"He's in the process right now of trying to hire a staff," Rooney told Steelers.com. "It's not an easy task, because some of the people he'd like to hire are under contract to other teams, and so we've got to get permission to talk to them. But just in general, the people he had targeted for key positions – offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and those kinds of things – we were very comfortable with the discussion around that."

One name has now emerged, though. League sources have told Steelers On SI that Patrick Graham is a name to watch for the Steelers defensive coordinator job. Giants reporter Art Stapleton has also reported the news.

"Been hearing former Giants and Raider DC Patrick Graham’s name as a possible defensive coordinator for Mike McCarthy in Pittsburgh," Stapleton wrote on X. "Graham was with McCarthy in Green Bay."

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Graham's Impressive History

Graham is one of the most respected names across the NFL landscape, spending the last three seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders, but carrying a ton of NFL

After starting at the college level, Graham started his NFL coaching career with the New England Patriots as a coaching assistant in 2009. He then moved into a defensive assistant (2010), linebackers coach (2011), defensive line coach (2012-2013) and back to linebackers coach (2014-2015). He joined the New York Giants from 2016 to 2017 as a defensive line coach and the Green Bay Packers in 2018 as a linebackers coach and run game coordinator.

Exciting for Steelers?

The Steelers would be landing a defensive coordinator that had a great relationship with one of the NFL's biggest names. Maxx Crosby has been known to be one of the biggest supporters of Graham over the years.

"Patrick Graham is the man,” Crosby on his podcast “The Rush.” “He is hilarious, he swears that he is swaggy, he is just one of us, one of the guys. Having him on the sidelines with us has been so dope. Because I know that he is more comfortable just being with us, you know what I mean. Before the games in the past years ago, he would be super stressed out and you know ‘I need to make sure everything is all right.”

T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Jalen Ramsey and many others would be getting a DC with plenty of experience and support around the league, and for the first time in a long time, the Steelers defense would be under the control of someone new.

This article first appeared on Pittsburgh Steelers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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