Steelers Nearing Patrick Graham DC Hire
4:29pm: An official interview has not yet taken place. It is believed to be scheduled for Thursday, The Exhibit’s Josina Anderson reports. Graham landing this job would mean a fourth DC opportunity.
1:51pm: Patrick Graham served as the Raiders’ defensive coordinator under three HCs, being retained by both Antonio Pierce and Pete Carroll. With a to-be-determined Raiders HC arriving, Graham is close to landing on his feet elsewhere.
The Steelers are close to hiring him as their next DC, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reports. Graham scheduled an interview for the position. Graham, 47, spent a year on Mike McCarthy‘s Packers staff, serving as an assistant during the new Steelers HC’s final year in Green Bay (2018). He has been a defensive coordinator ever since.
A longtime Patriots staffer, Graham reunited with Josh McDaniels as the Raiders’ DC in 2022. This came after he had served in that capacity with the Dolphins (2019) and Giants (2020-21). Two ex-Patriot HCs (Brian Flores, Joe Judge) appointed Graham to those posts, and while a third hired him when the McDaniels reunion commenced, Graham impressed enough to stick around in Las Vegas under Pierce and Carroll. He appears close to reuniting with McCarthy.
The Raiders have struggled on defense for the better part of a two-plus-decade span. They have only ranked in the top half of the league in scoring once since their Super Bowl XXXVII season. That came under Graham in 2023, when the team ranked ninth. The Raiders were unable to sustain that form over the past two seasons, ranking 25th in each campaign. The team did lose prized free agent signing Christian Wilkins early in 2024, before a contentious 2025 separation, and lost a few starters (Robert Spillane, Tre’von Moehrig, Nate Hobbs) in free agency this past offseason.
Pittsburgh had employed Teryl Austin as its DC for the past four seasons. Mike Tomlin only had three DCs in 19 seasons; Keith Butler‘s stint covered 2015-21, and Dick LeBeau‘s second Steelers stop lasted from 2004-14). Graham has also been a regular on the HC carousel. He met about the Dolphins’ HC position this year and interviewed for the Commanders’ DC job. The Jaguars met twice with Graham about their HC post last year, while the Chargers and Seahawks interviewed him in 2024.
While more staff turnover will be expected, McCarthy plans to retain a few Tomlin assistants. Quarterbacks coach Tom Arth, DBs coach Gerald Alexander and linebackers coach Scott McCurley are coming back, Dulac adds. The team was also planning to retain veteran special teams coordinator Danny Smith, according to the Pat McAfee Show‘s Mark Kaboly, but that was before the McCarthy hire became known. Smith is now the Buccaneers’ ST coordinator.
McCurley will reunite with his longtime boss, as McCarthy oversaw the veteran defensive staffer throughout his Green Bay years before bringing him to Dallas as linebackers coach in 2020. McCarthy’s first Packers season (2006) doubled as McCurley’s NFL debut. Arth has coached the Steelers’ QBs for three seasons, while Alexander has been on the team’s staff for two stops.
After coaching on Tomlin’s staff from 2022-23, he was the Raiders’ safeties coach in ’24. Tomlin rehired him in 2025. Graham coming to Pittsburgh would make for a reunion with Alexander, who has been on the DC carousel previously.
Pittsburgh is also hiring Adam Henry as its new wide receivers coach, NFL.com’s Cameron Wolfe adds. Henry spent the past three years as the Bills’ wideouts coach. He has a connection to McCarthy, having been the Cowboys’ WRs coach from 2020-21 before leaving to be Indiana’s OC for a year. Henry has also coached wideouts with the 49ers, Browns and Giants since 2015.
While the Bills struggled at the position post-Stefon Diggs, Khalil Shakir made the transition from fifth-rounder to the team’s most reliable target during Henry’s time. The 2021 Cowboys also featured three 800-yard receivers (CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup) in 2021.
2025 QB Draft Race Muddled Behind Ward
As the pre-draft process has worn on, some things have become extremely clear while others have become increasingly muddled. After some early competition from Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward has easily established himself as the top passing option in this year’s draft class, and the closer we get to the draft, the clearer that appears to be. What has become muddled is Sanders’ positioning up top with Ward. 
Sanders has been experiencing a drop in draft stock following a series of reportedly poor interviews during the NFL Scouting Combine, per Vic Tafur and Tashan Reed of The Athletic. While Sanders still has the experience and talent to be a high draft pick, some have wondered if he could slide out of the first round entirely. Even More have posited that another quarterback may end up surpassing him as QB2 on most draft boards.
Per Jeff Howe, also of The Athletic, Jaxson Dart out of Ole Miss has continuously forced himself into the picture. Dart first established himself as a potential first-rounder with an impressive week at the Senior Bowl. As talk continued at the combine, two teams expressed that they strongly believed Dart would get taken in the top half of the first round.
Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports noted that Louisville’s Tyler Shough is another passer who’s drawn rave reviews during the pre-draft process. Shough has a strong, quick arm and found a way to deliver a 4.64-second 40-yard dash despite a massive 6-foot-5 frame. Though we’re still a ways away from the start of the draft, one personnel director claimed that Shough may have done enough to work his way up into QB3 talk and a potential first-round grade.
While Sanders, Dart, and Shough battle it out for second place, the overwhelming sentiment coming out of the combine was that there is a wide gap between Ward and QB2, which begs the question of which team up top will make a move to draft him. Of course, the Titans hold the No. 1 overall pick, but the Giants have been linked to a possible trade up for that pick.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen was publicly linked to Sanders early and often throughout the college football season, but The Athletic’s Dan Duggan points out that, despite little coverage, Schoen attended three Miami games (one more than Colorado) and went to a Hurricanes practice before the team’s bowl game. The general consensus was that Ward left quite an impression on Schoen and is likely sitting atop the team’s quarterback rankings.
The Raiders are another team rumored to be in the running for Ward and Sanders, and some thought that may have changed with the team’s acquisition of veteran starter Geno Smith. Well, we know that Las Vegas is still very much considered to be in play for a first-round quarterback, but their approach to doing so may have changed. If you’re to buy the predictions of Tafur and Reed above, the Raiders may even trade back with confidence that they could still land Sanders in the middle of the first round.
One team that was recently rumored to be in the hunt for a rookie quarterback, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, is the Cowboys. It seems hard to believe that, with Dak Prescott recently getting his extension, Dallas would spend a quality draft pick on a passer — a sentiment echoed by Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS — but Rapoport, nonetheless, believes that with the loss of key backup Cooper Rush to Baltimore, the team could pick a quarterback in the second or third round.
How early Dallas takes a stab at the quarterback position could very well depend on how quickly Ward, Sanders, Dart, and, potentially, Shough come off the board. If the Sanders, Dart, and Shough all slide a bit, the Cowboys could be tempted to use an earlier pick to secure a rookie backup with a higher ceiling. If Sanders, Dart, and Shough all come off the board fairly early on Day 1, Dallas may be content to wait a bit and select one of the project passers of the draft.
If the latter occurs, there are plenty of options, including Syracuse’s Kyle McCord, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, and Ohio State’s Will Howard. While all these quarterbacks are held in varying esteems across the league, each team seemingly has a project passer in mind. For instance, Milroe spent today with Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, general manager Omar Khan, and quarterbacks coach Tom Arth ahead of tomorrow’s pro day, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
One thing remains clear: Ward is QB1 and a potential No. 1 overall pick. Behind that, pundits and analysts are muddy on who stands as QBs 2-4, where a team like Dallas could choose a passer, and which teams have which quarterbacks on their radar as potential project picks. We have lots to learn in the next month and a half about the options surrounding the 2025 quarterback draft class.
Latest On Steelers Coaching Staff
With Arthur Smith now in place as offensive coordinator, the Steelers continue to make changes to their offensive staff. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported earlier this week that wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson wouldn’t be back next season. The organization was quick to fill that vacancy, as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler later reported that the Steelers were hiring Jets assistant Zach Azzanni for the job.
[RELATED: Steelers Hire Arthur Smith As OC]
While Jackson previously worked alongside Smith when the two were in Tennessee, he couldn’t overcome the underwhelming performance from his WRs corps in 2023. Both George Pickens and Diontae Johnson drew criticism for their lackadaisical play, and since the Steelers aren’t completely revamping their offensive staff, it sounds like part of blame has been attributed to the veteran coach.
So, the team will turn to Azzanni to help revamp the receivers room. The 47-year-old coach has had multiple stops as a WRs coach, including stints with the Bears, Broncos, and Jets. During his five years in Denver, he was tasked with the development of Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy.
The Steelers have also added former Chargers assistant Tom Arth as their new QB coach, per Dulac. The team has since announced the move. There were reports from earlier this week that Mike Sullivan would be retaining his job as Steelers QBs coach. That didn’t end up coming to fruition, but it sounds like Sullivan is expected to stick around Pittsburgh in a different role. Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston reports that the team has also let go of assistant quarterbacks coach David Corley.
Arth was most recently the passing game specialist for Brandon Staley in Los Angeles, where he worked extensively with Justin Herbert for two years. Following a playing career that saw him briefly serve as Peyton Manning‘s backup in Indianapolis, Arth served as the head coach at John Carroll, Chattanooga, and Akron.
Sullivan took on the role of co-offensive coordinator (alongside RBs coach Eddie Faulkner) following the firing of Matt Canada back in November. A former offensive coordinator with the Buccaneers and Giants, Sullivan had served as Pittsburgh’s quarterbacks coach since the 2021 season, guiding the team through the transition from Ben Roethlisberger to Kenny Pickett.