Three years is all it’s taken for Patrick Graham to carve his name in the history books of the Silver and Black. In 2023, during what was his second year with the Las Vegas Raiders, Graham led Sin City’s defense to a top-15 rank in both least points and least total yardage surrendered. While that may sound unimpressive, it’s a mark the team hadn’t hit since the 2002 NFL season; 21 campaigns prior.
It’s completely fair to claim that, up to this point, Graham has been the Raiders’ best defensive coordinator of the century.
Thanks to his success, the 45-year-old has a legitimate chance to earn a head coaching job in the National Football League. Not with Sin City, however. Instead, Graham is currently considered the co-favorite to lead the Jacksonville Jaguars’ coaching ranks via Bovada sportsbook odds.
For Raider Nation, the Jacksonville head coach race is the one to follow. Not only because Graham has a legitimate chance to land the job, but because the guy Graham is fighting with is Liam Coen.
Coen, who’s served as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator this past season, helped his team reach great heights. With the help of their offensive play-caller, the Buccaneers finished their ’24 campaign averaging the fourth-most points per contest (29.5). This was quite the leap from the 20.7 points per outing Tampa Bay averaged in 2023.
Although Coen has yet to interview for Sin City’s head coach position, the 38-year-old makes the perfect fit. In addition to being the offensive mind that an offensively-lacking team like the Raiders needs, Coen spent the ’24 season working with assistant general manager John Spytek, who’s considered a strong candidate to land Las Vegas’ vacant general manager position.
Should Spytek get the job, a reunion with Coen is plenty realistic.
Las Vegas Raiders: Chasing a Plan-B
Of course, Coen would have to not be the Jaguars pick for any of that to happen. On top of already completing two interviews with Jacksonville, the offensive mastermind has participated in a total of zero interviews for the position in Sin City.
Needless to say, the ball isn’t at all in the Raiders court for Coen–at least not at this moment in time.
That doesn’t seem to matter to Las Vegas, though. In fact, the team seems content with the few head coaches they’ve completed interviews with; being Aaron Glenn, Robert Saleh, Ron Rivera and Pete Carroll. The latter appears to be the preferred option of the group.
Of those the Raiders have either interviewed or requested to do so, only two come from an offensive background. That includes Ben Johnson, alongside Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who has yet to follow up on the request to this point.
Each of the other six all come from the defensive side.
For those of Raider Nation who prefer an offensive-minded head coach, the bad news is 75% of current candidates – 80%, once you remove Johnson – are from the other side of the ball. The good news, however, is the team had their sights set on Ben Johnson the whole way, who, of course, manned the Detroit Lions’ offense.
Perhaps that shows Tom Brady and company are looking for the next offensive guru rather than a defensive mastermind.
If that’s the case, Las Vegas will need to start scheduling interviews before the best offensive minds in this coaching cycle all agree to deals elsewhere. It seems likely a general manager will be the first hire, however, pushing back the head coach selection even further.
*Top Photo: BMV Sports