Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham got his start up front, as both a player and a coach.
He played on the defensive line at Yale. He coached the defensive line when he got his first full-time position in the college ranks at Richmond. So when he was hired to take over the entire defensive unit in Pittsburgh, he wanted to make sure that he had the right assistants to coach the secondary, in Joe Whitt Jr. and Jason Simmons.
"I've known Joe and Simmo for a long time; there's not too many people I could name in coaching I would trust more to get it right and coach them right. … You just look at their track record, they know how to coach ball, they know how to coach DBs, and they know I don't want to coach them," Graham joked Saturday.
Of course, Graham will have his fingerprints all over this defense at every level as the man who sets the structure and ultimately calls the plays. But he's not joking that he wants to spend a lot of time with the big guys who control the line of scrimmage.
That's Graham's home base. And it's more than a bonus that he inherits a defensive line that would have any coordinator counting his blessings, let alone one who's so passionate about the trenches. Graham applauded general manager Omar Khan and the Steelers front office for having never strayed from the defense's identity.
"I love the fact that they've stayed with the profile," Graham said. "It shows the discipline of the organization. That's why they win all the time, and that's why I'm happy to be here."
When it comes to the depth of the defensive line group, Graham called it "hard to compete in that room." He didn't want to get into how many will wind up making the team, but acknowledged that there will be at least a few talented odd men out.
As Graham put it, many of them are going to be playing in the NFL. Only so many can do so for the Steelers, but that's a good problem to have.
"You have Dean [Lowry] in there. Dean's played a lot of football. Sebastian [Joseph-Day] has played a lot of football," Graham said. "[Derrick] Harmon, even though he's in his second year, he played a lot of football. It's fun to be in that room and hear them talk football."
If all goes according to plan, it won't be fun for opposing offenses to try to run on them. The Steelers are always trying to improve in that aspect, but the investments keep coming in the form of Keeanu Benton, Harmon, Yahya Black and now the latest draft pick, Gabriel Rubio.
While Graham is always a defensive lineman at heart, he also has the utmost trust in that position coach, Domata Peko, as well as defensive assistant Shawn Howe, who works with the pass rushers. That also goes for C.J. Ah You with the outside linebackers, Scott McCurley with the inside linebackers and the aforementioned secondary coaches.
"Once you're put in a place of leadership, I think you've got to be clear with the vision," Graham said. "And that doesn't mean you have to micromanage. You just have to be clear with the vision and then let them bring it to life. The assistant coaches, let them develop a language how they're talking to their players. That's what I've learned from all the guys I worked for."
