Atlanta Falcons Make Final Decision on Jeff Ulbrich's Future

The Atlanta Falcons cleaned house after the 2025 season, but they seem to be making one exception. The Falcons hired head coach Kevin Stefanski on Saturday night, and it was announced Sunday that they would be retaining defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, NFL Network reported. 

Head coaches have their choice of who they want on their staff, and it seems like Stafanski liked one component of the Morris regime. 

Ulbrich transformed a Falcons defense that struggled in 2024. Under Ulbrich, the defense reached new heights. The biggest turnaround was Atlanta’s pass rush, which finished second-to-last in the league a year ago. In 2025, they had 57 sacks, a new franchise record and the second-best mark in the league.

Owner Arthur Blank had praised the defensive coordinator a few weeks ago.

“Jeff Ulbrich, in my view, he did a really fine job for us this year,” Blank said. “Certainly look at the record of sacks and just the overall performance of the defense was definitely better than it’s been in the past.”

While new faces in Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. certainly helped fuel the revamped pass rush, Ulbrich also maximized the talent of players who were already on the roster. 2024 fourth-round pick Brandon Dorlus, who saw just 19 defensive snaps under the previous defensive coordinator, Jimmy Lake, finished this season with 8.5 sacks, the second most on the team and the most amongst all NFC interior defenders.

Zach Harrison thrived following his position switch, posting a career high of 4.5 sacks despite playing in just seven games.

Not to mention, Atlanta had an elite rotational defensive line last season. LaCale London finished the season with five sacks despite playing just 200 snaps. Kentavius Street added two sacks. Sam Roberts was sacking the reigning MVP, Josh Allen in the 4th quarter of a close game. The Falcons’ defensive line was very deep.

In the secondary, Dee Alford saw a redemption season after a year in which he gave up over 700 yards and eight touchdowns. Alford had three interceptions this season (after recording zero last season), two in primetime, and the Falcons won every game in which he had an interception. Alford allowed 50 or fewer yards in 11 of his 15 games this season and under 10 yards in three games.

Not to mention, Atlanta’s rookie defenders thrived under Ulbrich.

James Pearce Jr. is setting a franchise record for sacks by a Falcons rookie with 10.5. That number was also the most sacks by any rookie since Micah Parsons’ 13.5 in 2021.

Jalon Walker finished second amongst all rookies in sacks with 5.5, and finished sixth out of 115 edges in PFF run defense grade. Safety Xavier Watts led all rookies in interceptions with five, and was tied for the second most amongst all defenders. Watts was the first defender to have 60 or more tackles and three or more interceptions as a rookie since 2017.

Now Ulbrich will continue to lead the Atlanta Falcons defense into 2026 and beyond.

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