Under Jeff Ulbrich, the Atlanta Falcons went from ranking near the bottom of the NFL in sacks (second-to-last in fact) in 2024 to setting a franchise record with 57 sacks last season - They finished second in the NFL in sacks, and they did it with 14 different players recording at least one.
That was supposed to be the foundation for 2026… Instead, the defense Ulbrich is taking into Year 2 looks very different.
Miles Garrett recently pointed out just how much turnover Atlanta has had on defense, and the list is hard to ignore. Jalon Walker is out for the season. James Pearce Jr. is suspended for the first eight games. Kaden Elliss left for New Orleans. Arnold Ebiketie signed with Philadelphia. Leonard Floyd is gone. Ruke Orhorhoro was traded. David Onyemata left for the Jets. Dee Alford is now with Buffalo.
And now Zach Harrison is gone too after Atlanta waived him following the initial roster cuts. That's a lot of change for a defense that finally found something that worked.
The Atlanta Falcons are in the midst of a major defensive overhaul
Ulbrich finally had the defense clicking. And Atlanta seemed to understand that when it decided to keep Ulbrich after hiring Kevin Stefanski as head coach.
The Falcons retained Ulbrich as defensive coordinator, giving him another year in the same system. Safety Jessie Bates III even talked about how much better the defense could be with another season together.
"My first three years, I had a new defense, a whole new defensive scheme," Bates said. "To be able to be in Year 2 in this scheme, I think we can go to a whole other level and continue to build on what we were doing last year with the sack record."
That made sense. Keep the coordinator. Keep the scheme. Develop the young players. Build on a record setting season. Except Atlanta didn't exactly keep the group that made all of that possible.
Kevin Stefanski and general manager Ian Cunningham were always going to make changes. This is their roster now, and some turnover was inevitable.
But Atlanta had finally built a defensive unit that looked like it had a direction. Instead of simply adding to that group, the Atlanta Falcons have replaced a huge portion of it.
Maybe the new players make the defense even better. Za'Darius Smith has plenty of experience, Gervon Dexter gives the interior another talented body and Atlanta still has Jessie Bates III and A.J. Terrell anchoring the secondary.
There are reasons to believe Ulbrich can make it work. But that's also the problem. He now has to prove it again.
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