PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – I think if reporters could have, they would have kept new Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham for hours talking about his thoughts on the Steelers defense. He got peppered with questions about schematics and personnel in his first group interview since being hired.
“It's April. I mean, trust me, we got some stuff cooking,” Graham said with a smile.
Graham is known for his ability to alter his defenses based on personnel. He’s also got a little mad scientist in him finding unique ways to position players. What he is doing now in film work and meetings is figuring out exactly what he has. On Monday, field work debuts as the team goes through offseason workouts.
“Not every roster is built the same,” Graham said. “I have to do what's best for the guys. It's unfair not to play to the roster. That’s why you hear in every press conference I’ve ever done, there’s no Pat Graham playbook.”
“The playbook evolves once I get around the guys.”
As he learns the roster, he starts with a 3-4 base and implements options depending on the strengths of his personnel. That could change as the offseason evolves, in training camp or even during the season.
“I have my principles, I have the things I want to do, but to truly get a grasp of
the scheme, it evolves as we go along, figuring out the players and what they do best,” Graham said.
Graham then explained a little of how the process works.
“What I'll do is narrow down what we're going to do schematically on early down,” Graham said Friday. “I'm not big on having a lot of different schemes for early down. And we'll find ways to be multiple within it. But I try to keep it in five buckets from there.”
“Then what I tell them is we're going to get really good at this, knock out the run game, prevent shots on early-down passing game, and then we'll get to second-and-long and third down. That's when we get to the fun stuff. That's where the imagination goes wild.”
“And the funny thing I tell them all the time, you might forget something we installed on day one that had to deal with early-down base defense, but if we come up with some funky third-down blitz package that you might get a sack, they’re not going to forget that. So, joking with them about that.”
“So that’s my approach. But really, I'm not going to try to venture too far off from
what this city has been known for. We’ve got to play hard-nosed, physical football. We have to have an intimidating play style. And if I’m honest, the first two weeks of meetings I’ve had with the players have been more about how we’re going to play, and the vision I have as the coordinator of how we’re going to play, how we’re going to get stuff done before we even get into the calls.”
There isn’t a feeling from Graham that he feels they need to be completely different from recent defenses, at least in terms of structure.
“They had such a good foundation here,” Graham said. “Coach Tomlin, TA [Teryl Austin], Denzel [Martin], I mean, I knew all these guys. And, one of my best football days of my life was meeting with Coach Tomlin for eight hours and talking about football. So, there's a foundation established here, and he's part of that. We're all trying to earn our place in it this year.”
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Graham isn’t ready to say if he will have TJ Watt switch sides or how he will use Jalen Ramsey. What the plan is for Payton Wilson or if he will have Joey Porter, Junior and Jamel Dean work on an island?
“Just trying to find a way to earn my way in this tradition,” Graham said. “I don't have to come up with any gimmicks here at Pittsburgh. There doesn't have to be any slogans. This Steel Curtain role, I told the players when I first met with them, we're trying to earn our position in that tradition in 2026, and that's why I'm so excited to be here."
LISTEN-what Steelers defensive coordinator said about his playbook and scheme
LISTEN-what Steelers defensive coordinator said about his playbook and scheme
