Raiders hire Giants’ Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator

Patrick Graham, the Giants’ defensive coordinator the last two seasons, has been hired to the same position by the Raiders, a person familiar with the negotiations confirmed.

Graham interviewed for the job on Friday and a deal quickly fell into place.

Graham previously coached with the New England Patriots. His time there overlapped with Raiders coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler.

The Giants fired coach Joe Judge at the end of the 2021 season and replaced him with Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. While Daboll hoped to keep Graham on board, the Raiders swooped in and lured him away.

Graham replaces Gus Bradley, who was not retained by McDaniels and was hired Friday as defensive coordinator in Indianapolis.

Graham also interviewed for the head coaching job with the Vikings. But when Minnesota settled on Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell, the assumption was Graham would return to the Giants in his previous role.

Graham was in his second go-around with the Giants after serving as their defensive line coach in 2016 and 2017. He left the Giants for Green Bay as the Packers’ linebackers coach in 2018 before becoming Miami’s defensive coordinator in 2019.

He moved on to the Giants in 2020, where he took a defense that ranked 30th in the NFL in points allowed in 2019 to ninth in 2020. New York, though, slumped to 23rd in that category in 2021.

Nevertheless, Daboll made it clear he wanted to retain Graham if a head coach opportunity didn’t materialize. He expressed as much in his introductory news conference with the Giants.

“I’ve had a good relationship with Pat for some time in this league,’’ said Daboll, who served on the staff with Graham on the Patriots. “He’s very diligent. He’s smart. I think the players respect him. He understands different defenses. I have a good working relationship with him.”

Also, the Raiders on Saturday will begin their search for an offensive coordinator, scheduling an interview with Cleveland tight ends coach Drew Petzing.

Petzing has been with the Browns the past two seasons. From 2014 to 2018, Petzing held several roles for Minnesota, including assistant wide receivers and quarterbacks coach. He took over as the team’s wide receivers coach in 2019.

Petzing is the first known candidate for the Raiders’ vacant offensive coordinator job. If hired, he would replace Greg Olson, who served as the offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021.

On Thursday, the Raiders interviewed Sean Desai, Chicago’s defensive coordinator in 2021. But by Friday, all signs pointed to Graham coming on board in Las Vegas.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.