FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Falcons have fielded an average defense once and bad defenses many times in the past nine years. Jeff Ulbrich is part of that history. He was a Falcons assistant from 2015 to 2020. He was interim defensive coordinator in 2020 under interim coach Raheem Morris. Morris returned as Falcons head coach last year, and now he’s hired Ulbrich to be his defensive coordinator again.

Ulbrich said it will be different this time around. He said Morris grew as a coach while working on Sean McVay’s staff in Los Angeles, and he did the same as Jets defensive coordinator for four seasons under Robert Saleh.

“My core principles are the same in many ways, (but) my football brain is in a completely different place,” Ulbrich said Monday.

Maybe so, but the Falcons’ defense has been in a similar place since Ulbrich left after the 2020 season. The Falcons don’t have any more talented players on defense now than they did then and the results look much the same. The 2024 Falcons ranked 23rd in scoring defense. The 2020 Falcons ranked 19th.

Ulbrich said he plans to collaborate with Morris and his defensive assistants with the goal of creating a scheme “that has never been done before.” Ulbrich noted that during his first stint with the Falcons, the defensive staff was copying the formula that then-coach Dan Quinn had used with great success in Seattle. The scheme was renowned for its simple and consistent approach.

“I loved it, and I believed in it,” Ulbrich said. “It’s just that the game has changed. It really has. These offensive coordinators are absolutely pains in my butt because it’s not like the old days. ... They watch your tape, they learn your rules and then they beat you in ways that you’ve never been beat before.

“So, because of that, you need more variety in coverage. You need more (variety) in the front. You need more scheme. So, that’s where I’ve changed completely.”

I’m not sure there is a scheme that can quickly fix all the problems that Ulbrich is inheriting. Most of the players have changed since his last stint with the Falcons, but the issues look the same.

The Falcons still don’t bother opposing quarterbacks much (31st in sacks per pass attempt and 31st in pressure rate in 2024, per Pro Football Focus). They still don’t have enough defensive backs who can closely cover pass catchers (32nd in completion percentage allowed and 31st in touchdown percentage allowed). They Falcons still don’t create enough turnover chances (tied for 21st in passes defended, 17th in interceptions and tied for 13th in forced fumbles).

At least Ulbrich arrives with more credibility than his predecessor, Jimmy Lake. Lake had never run an NFL defense when Morris hired him last year. Ulbrich was defensive coordinator for the 11-game stint with the Falcons in 2020 and with the Jets from 2021 to 2024. His units have produced some good results.

The Falcons allowed 32 points per game over the first five weeks of the 2020 season. Opponents averaged 23 points scored over the final 11 games with Ulbrich as coordinator. During his time in New York, the Jets ranked 32nd, fourth, 12th and 20th in scoring defense.

With the Falcons, Ulbrich will run a defense that isn’t good in part because it’s been neglected when it comes to high draft picks and big spending. That wasn’t the case with the Jets.

The Jets selected cornerback Sauce Gardner with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 draft. He was the Rookie of the Year and is a two-time All-Pro. The Jets drafted edge rusher Will McDonald with the No. 15 pick in 2023. He recorded 10 1/2 sacks in 2024 while ranking 29th in pass rush grade among edge rushers per PFF. New York’s two highest-paid players other than the quarterback in 2024 were defenders. In 2023, the three-highest paid Jets players other than the QB were defenders.

Meanwhile, the Falcons have used all of their recent high draft picks on offensive players. They selected one in the top eight of the draft in each of the past four years. Last year, the Falcons used the No. 8 pick to select quarterback Michael Penix Jr. weeks after they committed $100 million guaranteed to quarterback Kirk Cousins.

The offense has been the focus of their spending on veteran contacts, too. From 2021 through 2024, the Falcons committed $178 million in guaranteed money for free agents who are offensive players and $101 million to defenders. Exclude the outlier contracts on offense and defense — Cousins and safety Jessie Bates — and it’s $78 million guaranteed for Falcons offensive free agents and $17 million for defensive free agents from 2021-24.

The Falcons have the chance to invest more in the defense this offseason. They own picks Nos. 15 and 46 in the coming draft. They have only five picks in total, but general manager Terry Fontenot recently said, “we can move down and pick up more capital.” They can use those picks and whatever salary-cap space they create to add to a defense that sorely can use an injection of top-tier talent.

Soon, Ulbrich will sit down with Morris and tell him what he thinks about the defense he’s inheriting. Ulbrich said he learned during 12-game stint as Jets interim head coach that it’s important for assistants to be honest with the head coach.

“We’re going to have some hard conversations,” Ulbrich said. “That’s another thing that is beautiful about this opportunity for myself, is the equity in the relationship that I have with Raheem is such that we can have drag-out (disputes). Like, if you were an outsider looking in, you’d be like, ‘Damn, they hate each other.’

“But we are capable of having those really, really hard conversations but understanding that we are trying to create something special.”

An average defense would be an upgrade. The Falcons ranked among the top half of the league in scoring defense only twice in the past 12 seasons. They were 23rd or worse in eight of those seasons. Ulbrich knows all about that history because he was part of it. He said he’s here to change things.

I heard similar talk from Morris, Lake and Dean Pees before him. I’ll believe that Ulbrich can build a good defense here when I see it.

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