Atlanta Falcons Eye Year Two Leap Under Jeff Ulbrich

The Atlanta Falcons took a giant step forward in 2025 on the defensive side of the football. They snapped a franchise record for sacks and saw great strides nearly across the board. But after some midseason dips in production, it became clear that there was still plenty of room for improvement in year two of the Jeff Ulbrich era.

By and large, the 2025 season was a major success for a defense flooded with injuries, one-year contract players, and rookies. That unit finished No. 15 in total defense, No. 19 in scoring defense, and No. 15 in expected points added per play allowed. All of these markers, while about average by NFL standards, are significant improvements given the circumstances.

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Now that Ulbrich is set to return to the Falcons in 2026, the franchise can finally snap its streak of defensive coordinator turnover and move into the second phase of development in year two.

“That was year one for us within this defense,” Ulbrich explained. “There's a lot of growth opportunity, but there's also a lot of struggles that you’ve got to learn from. You’ve got to go through a lot of stuff, and keloids, etc. And in that, by finally getting this opportunity in the offseason to take a deep breath, reflect, and look at it from that 10,000-foot view, it's exciting to think where we can take it, because as I spoke on before, we dove into a lot that I wasn't familiar with, and we blended some stuff that had never been blended together. In that, there were some struggles, especially midway through the season.

“Early in the season, we had some early success because people didn't know who we were or what we were. And I kind of anticipated that. Then, midway through the season, some of the mistakes got exposed. But they're necessary mistakes. They're necessary struggles, necessary keloids, all that. In the last four or five games, I found a bit of a sweet spot regarding the scheme and combining the two systems. So, to now really reflect on it, and now to really polish it up and get this thing right, it's exciting.”

Ulbrich also made his plea to the new personnel team led by Ian Cunningham, encouraging them to continue their investment along the defensive line.

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That unit is set to lose several key contributors and will need some reinforcements this offseason. Still, the Falcons defensive coordinator is thrilled with the opportunity to continue developing the defense in his image.

“The process of evolving and growing, I think, is ongoing, always. Not just this year – being that it's year two within the system - any year,” Ulbrich explained. “It's an exciting time too, because it's an opportunity for me to really learn and grow and be exposed to maybe something schematically that I haven't dove into. I learned last year that there's something very powerful about that. I think I've been stubborn at times and been in my own world about, ‘This is the only way to do things.’ I learned last year that that is not the truth. There are a lot of ways to get this thing done, and I'm excited to explore maybe new ways to add to what we've already done.”