Atlanta Falcons keep defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich
The Atlanta Falcons will retain Jeff Ulbrich as defensive coordinator, the team announced Monday morning.
FLOWERY BRANCH – The Atlanta Falcons will retain Jeff Ulbrich as defensive coordinator, the team announced Monday morning.
Led by Ulbrich in his first year as the organization’s defensive coordinator, the 2025 Atlanta defense totaled 57 sacks, breaking the franchise record set in 1997 for most sacks in a single season (55). The Falcons had 12 players with multiple sacks, also the most in franchise history.
The opportunistic defense finished sixth in the league with 16 interceptions and seventh with 23 total takeaways. The safety duo of rookie Xavier Watts (five) and second-team AP All-Pro Jessie Bates III (three) led the way with eight interceptions, tied for the second-most interceptions by any safety duo across the league.
Up front, Atlanta’s rookie tandem of James Pearce Jr. (10.5) and Jalon Walker (5.5) finished one-two among rookies in sacks as Atlanta’s rookie class totaled 17.5 sacks in 2025, the sixth most by any rookie class since sacks became an official statistic in 1982. Pearce’s 10.5 sacks were five more than any other rookie and the most by a Falcon since Vic Beasley (15.5) in 2016, while Brandon Dorlus, a second-year player for Atlanta, led all NFC interior defensive linemen with 8.5 sacks.
Additionally, linebacker Kaden Elliss finished second in the league among linebackers with 30 pressures and was one of two players in the NFL (Tyrel Dodson) with 100+ tackles, 10+ tackles for loss, 3.5+ sacks and an interception in 2025. Ulbrich returned to Atlanta after four seasons (2021-24) with the New York Jets, where he served as interim head coach for the final 12 games of the 2024 season after three years as the defensive coordinator.
Calling the Jets defense in 2022-24, Ulbrich’s unit was the only defense in the league to rank in the top five of total defense in each of the three seasons, finishing fourth in 2022 before finishing third in both 2023 and 2024. In the three seasons combined, Ulbrich’s defense ranked No. 1 in total defense (305.7 yards per game), No. 1 in passing defense (183.5 yards per game), No. 5 in tackles for loss (269), No. 8 in sacks (136) and No. 9 in scoring defense (21.1 points per game).
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