Shortly after firing head coach Robert Saleh, the 2-3 New York Jets are naming defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich as the team's interim head coach. Saleh held a poor 20-36 record in charge of the Jets and failed to end New York's 14-year postseason draught.
Ulbrich, 47, joined New York as the team's defensive coordinator alongside Saleh ahead of the 2021 season. He previously served as both the Atlanta Falcons linebackers coach and defensive coordinator.
The Jets new head coach spent 10 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers as an inside linebacker from 2000-2009, registering 501 tackles in 120 career games.
Through five games of the 2024 season, Ulbrich and the Jets' defense rank second in the NFL for the fewest yards allowed per game with 256.5.
His unit limited the undefeated Minnesota Vikings to 253 yards and 16 points last weekend. However, quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a pick-six and the Jets offense failed to deliver as New York stumbled to a 23-17 loss. The week prior, Ulbrich's defense held the Denver Broncos to 186 yards, 10 points, and 12 first downs. Again, the offense went cold and the Jets fell 10-9 in an embarrassing home defense.
Offensive coordinator Nathanial Hackett, who served in the same position alongside Rodgers in Green Bay from 2019-2021, will remain with the team in the same role.
In his introductory press conference in 2021, Saleh emphasized he "won't handle play-calling." Instead, his job was to be more of a CEO-type overseer of the team.
"I have confidence in Jeff Ulbrich to do it [call plays]," Saleh said. "We share the same thoughts. The message is that the organization has to work locked in arms and together to ensure the messaging is there and maintain it throughout."
"Everyone has to find their connection to the players, with the mindset that we're going to get these guys better every day. The entire organization moving in [the] same direction is what we want. I won't be calling plays."
Many players on Ulbrich's defense affably know him as "brick" and point to his experience in the NFL as a key asset in his teaching.
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“He’s just a real coach,” defensive end Jermaine Johnson said of his defensive coordinator. “He’s done it, which is extremely important for me. It’s very easy for me to take what he says and apply it because I know he’s done it, he’s been there."
"He did it at a high level. Obviously he’s proven himself in terms of how he can run a defense and lead a group of alphas and a group of dominant men. I don’t see why he wouldn’t be a head coach. I think everything good that comes to him, he deserves 100 percent.”
Ulbrich's first game in charge will have massive implications on the postseason: the Jets will face the 3-2 Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football for a chance at the top spot in the AFC East standings.
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