Raiders' Wilkins on Playing for Patrick Graham

The Las Vegas Raiders were impressive on defense last season, which can be primarily attributed to Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham.

In Graham’s second season calling the defense for the Silver and Black, the Raiders went from 26th in scoring defense to 8th and from 28th in total defense to 15th. It’s safe to say Graham got comfortable in year two and led a much-improved defense.

Graham has a shiny new toy to work with going into year three, thanks to a 4-year, $110 million contract. The Raiders signed star defensive tackle Christian Wilkins to those numbers, adding a disruptive presence to the interior to aid Las Vegas’ talented edge rushers.

Graham and Wilkins have worked together before, however. Graham was the defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins for Wilkins’ rookie season. Wilkins posted 56 total tackles, three tackles for loss, four quarterback hits, and two sacks in 2019.

Wilkins spoke about his familiarity with Graham in his introductory press conference and his excitement to learn from the current Raiders’ coaching staff.

“No, that’s definitely good,” he said about that familiarity. “That makes a transition like this easy, or easier, just kind of having a rapport and relationship with the coaches that are already here. And so, I’m excited to just come here and work with them again and work with all the other coaches and everybody else on the staff as well. Just getting familiar here and getting to know everybody, and just looking forward to building relationships with people here as well.”