The Atlanta Falcons have hired former New York Jets defensive coordinator and interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich as their defensive coordinator, the team announced Saturday night.
The Falcons interviewed seven candidates for the job, but Ulbrich always was considered the favorite because of his relationship with Falcons head coach Raheem Morris.
The 47-year-old Ulbrich was the Falcons’ linebackers coach from 2015 to 2020 under Dan Quinn and was promoted to defensive coordinator when Morris was named interim head coach after Quinn was fired in 2020. Atlanta was 14th in scoring defense (23 ppg allowed), 20th in defensive success rate (55.2 percent) and 27th in yards per play allowed (6.0) after Ulbrich took over, according to TruMedia.
After leaving Atlanta, Ulbrich was defensive coordinator under head coach Robert Saleh in New York. During Ulbrich’s three years with the Jets, New York was 21st in scoring defense (23.2 ppg allowed), eighth in success rate (59.3 percent) and fourth in yards per play allowed (5.1). He guided the Jets to a 3-9 record this season after the club parted ways with Saleh.
Morris fired his previous defensive coordinator, Jimmy Lake, last week after one year on the job. Lake came to Atlanta along with Morris from the Los Angeles Rams last season. He was the Rams’ assistant head coach and before that had served as head coach and defensive coordinator at the University of Washington.
The Falcons finished the 2024 season 23rd in scoring defense, allowing 24.88 points per game. They were 31st in sacks (31), 25th in defensive EPA (minus-4.1 per 100 snaps), 23rd in defensive success rate (57.2) and 20th in yards per play allowed (5.5), according to TruMedia.
Lake’s fate might have been sealed in the regular-season finale, a game that had playoff implications for Atlanta but ended in a 44-38 loss to the Carolina Panthers in what Morris called “an awful game” for the defense.
The Falcons allowed the highest catch percentage to opposing receivers (65.9 percent) and the second-highest wide open rate (14.9 percent catches made by a receiver with at least 5 yards of separation), according to FTN Fantasy tracking.
“Those are the things that can’t happen,” Morris said of coverage busts in the secondary.
In addition to Ulbrich, Morris also interviewed University of Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, former Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, Packers passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley, former Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks, Steelers secondary coach Grady Brown and former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.
(Photo: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
