The Falcons announced the hiring of Jeff Ulbrich as their new defensive coordinator on Saturday night.
The team interviewed seven candidates this week following the firing of defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake on Jan. 11 after Lake’s one season with the team.
Ulbrich returns to Atlanta after four seasons with the Jets. He was the team’s defensive coordinator until the Jets fired Robert Saleh as head coach five games into the season.
The Jets tabbed Ulbrich as the interim head coach, and they gave him a courtesy interview for the full-time job.
Ulbrich, a former NFL linebacker for 10 seasons, was the Falcons’ linebackers coach on Dan Quinn’s staff from 2015-19. He was part of the same staff as current Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, who also arrived in Atlanta in 2015.
Morris spent four of his years under Quinn working with the offense, but he was named the team’s defensive coordinator before the 2020 season. When the Falcons parted ways with Quinn a month into the 2020 season, Morris was promoted to interim head coach. He then named Ulbrich defensive coordinator for the remaining 11 games of that season.
The Falcons did not retain any of Quinn’s staff after the 2020 season. Morris went to the Rams to be their defensive coordinator, and Ulbrich headed to New York. Now, the two men are back together trying to turn around a Falcons defense that ranked 23rd in the league in total defense in 2024.
