Latest AFC North coaching hire will put Bengals head coach Zac Taylor’s most crucial decision to the test in 2026
Patrick Graham is officially the new defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Cincinnati Bengals will face a new-look defense when playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2026.
Mike Tomlin stepping down led to Mike McCarthy taking over as an offensive-minded head coach. McCarthy will be busy calling plays on offense, which created a need for a play-calling defensive coordinator.
McCarthy landed on Patrick Graham, who spent the last four years as the Las Vegas Raiders DC. The. hire became official Friday afternoon.
Graham was able to take a lateral move as the Raiders’ coaching staff is without a HC at the moment following the firing of Pete Carroll.
Graham was also available last year before Carroll was hired, and Cincinnati knows and remembers that well.
Patrick Graham lands AFC North defensive coordinator job a year after nearly joining Bengals
When the Bengals fired Lou Anarumo following the 2024 season, Graham was among the first candidates to interview for the vacancy. He eventually became one of two finalists for the job, but lost out to Al Golden.
Graham was in the conversation as an interviewee for longer because Golden was still employed as Notre Dame’s DC at the time. Once Notre Dame lost the College Football Playoff National Championship to Ohio State, he interviewed with the club he helped coach from 2020-21 and landed the job soon after.
While Graham was the first to interview, it became clear Golden was the candidate HC Zac Taylor wanted all along. It was just a matter of waiting for him to become available. Graham was then retained by the Raiders to be Carroll’s DC, and will now reunite with McCarthy, whom hired him as the Green Bay Packers linebackers coach in 2018.
It’s also an opportunity to potentially stick it to the Bengals.
Graham has two shots at revenge against Cincinnati
Perhaps Graham felt confident in becoming Taylor’s new DC last year, and felt a way being passed on for a coach who’s never called plays at the NFL level before. Coaches may not be as obvious in their vindictiveness as Jim Schwartz, but these are highly-competitive people gunning for a limited number of openings.
Graham had to grind it out in Las Vegas for another year, and the Raiders ended up with the worst record in the league. Pittsburgh may not be the crown jewel like it once was, but the club’s in a much better spot than the bottom of the AFC West and the entire NFL for that matter.
He’s got pieces to work with on his new defense, and gets to coach against the Bengals twice a year instead of once very few years.
Golden had a rough first year in Cincinnati, but the expectation is the unit will grow along with the addition of a few veteran starters via free agency. If his defense doesn’t take a step forward, and Graham hits the ground running with the Steelers, hiring the former over the latter may be Taylor’s undoing.
The opposite is just as true. 2026 will be a total prove-it year for Golden’s defense, and Graham will be starting anew and all the challenges that come with it. There will simply be an entertaining dynamic when the two teams meet twice during the season.
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