Miami Dolphins’ coaching staff churning could include defensive coordinator Patrick Graham
The New York Giants have requested permission from the Miami Dolphins to interview defensive coordinator Patrick Graham for the same position, a league source confirmed Saturday afternoon.
The NFL Network first reported the Giants would not only seek the permission but that the expectation is the Dolphins will grant that permission. The Herald has not confirmed the Dolphins will grant that permission despite the fact Graham and Dolphins head coach Brian Flores are friends.
Whether the permission by Miami is granted or not seems odd.
It is surprising, firstly, for Graham to show an obvious desire to get out of his contract with the Dolphins after only one year, which is exactly what is happening.
And it would be odd for the Dolphins to grant the relatively new coach permission to leave, especially since he’d be leaving essentially for a lateral move.
NFL teams are not compelled to grant interview requests to coaches under contract for lateral moves.
The Giants cannot contend Graham would be going for a promotion unless that team gives him an assistant head coach title because Graham already calls the defense in Miami and the Giants cannot contend giving him play-calling duties in New York would be a promotion.
And this: It’s clear Flores did not expect to lose Graham this offseason. The Dolphins coach fired offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea and safeties coach Tony Oden and moved on from offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo. Those decisions were mostly made before the season even ended.
Graham possibly leaving was not in the cards until the Giants hired former New England coach Joe Judge in a something of a surprising move. So it’s impossible for Flores to have anticipated losing Graham to the Giants.
If Graham, a Connecticut native, is indeed granted permission to interview and is hired, the Dolphins must scramble to fill the spot at a time all but a couple of teams -- including teams that recently hired new head coaches -- are looking for new defensive coordinators.
Some coaches available include Kris Richard, who interviewed for the Dolphins head coach job in 2019, and Wade Phillips, who has a long history of raising the level of 3-4 defenses. Richard is available after his contract with the Dallas Cowboys expired and Phillips was fired by the Los Angeles Rams.
If Graham is hired in New York, the Dolphins this offseason will be replacing both their offensive and defensive coordinators, hiring their third offensive line coach, and their second safeties coach in less than one year under Brian Flores.
This story was originally published January 11, 2020 at 7:40 PM.
