Bolts Request To Interview AFC West Rival For HC Vacancy

Your Los Angeles Chargers seem to be taking an inventory of every upper-tier football program in the NFL.

A source informs Tom Pelissero of The NFL Network that, as they continue their long-term head coach LA has reached out to the Las Vegas Raiders (the club that effectively ended Brandon Staley's Bolts tenure this season) about interviewing with defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. 

As Pelissero notes, the Raiders boasted the sixth-ranked defense in the league this season. Pelissero notes that Graham made it through two rounds of interviews for the head coaching gig for the Minnesota Vikings two seasons ago.

In three years under Staley (and interim head coach Giff Smith for the final three games of this season), the Bolts consistently posted some of the poorest defenses in the NFL.

After seven seasons in the college ranks (plus one month with Toledo in the 2009 offseason, if that counts), Graham graduated to the pros. He started off on Bill Belichick's New England Patriots staff as a coaching assistant in 2009, before becoming a defensive assistant, then a linebackers coach, next a defensive line coach, and finally a linebackers coach again. 

He won Super Bowl XLIX on that Pats staff, finally departing after the 2015 season. Graham then logged time with the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, and Miami Dolphins in various capacities. He joined the Raiders last season.

Obviously, Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh (whose team is currently leading the CFP National Championship game in the fourth quarter) is the main target.