Jessie Bates III Eager for Fresh Start, Working with New Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich

Jessie Bates III is the unquestioned defensive leader of the Atlanta Falcons. Arguably the best free-agent signing in franchise history, he fully grasps the game from a field, leadership, and nuanced level. Despite playing in a schematically atrocious defense that players did not buy into, he posted elite numbers. 

Now, with the tumult of last season firmly in the past, the 28-year-old looks towards a new season within a new scheme run by a new coordinator. Bates spoke effusively about what he sees so far in Jeff Ulbrich.

"I love the fact that he's been in our chairs before,” Bates said at OTAs this week. “Anytime you get a new coach, and sometimes some coaches like to overemphasize some things, overcoach some things, and say it's all about the X's and O's. But when you have a coach that's been there before, that's been in those seats, that's been in installs before, it's a little bit easier to apply what he's talking about in the meetings.

“It's been great. Jeff's super demanding. He has that linebacker personality. It's been good to work with him, and I'm excited for what's to come.”

In a nutshell, Ulbrich played the game at the highest level and can relate to the players differently. In a world where some coaches do not possess that game experience, a coordinator who played as recently as 2009 matters. 

Granted, you can cite chapter and verse regarding coaches that never played, enjoying extensive success. However, in certain cases, bonding over shared experiences for a coordinator and the leader matters. 

"We get this 10-week offseason period together, where you want to kind of knock out all your base fundamentals and your philosophies. This is about gaining that trust and understanding what we want to be for the year coming up. So, when we get to training camp, we can hit the ground running," said Bates. 

Bates's words elicit a few thoughts. First, how bad were things inside those defensive meetings a year ago? He sounds like a man free of the nonsense, possessing the ability to play ball and do his job. 

Next, his tone sounded definitive, as though he were making a statement endorsed by the whole team. One readily noticeable aspect when discussing the changes was the absence of the word "we." Without that included, a team-first narrative gets written, and the Falcons look better off the jump.