The Atlanta Falcons made significant changes to their coaching team in the offseason, including handing over the reins to Kevin Stefanski. However, in his very first offseason, the 43-year-old might end up losing a key member of their coaching staff, who the franchise retained, as the league’s accelerator program returns.

Jeff Ulbrich, the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive coordinator, was already drawing outside interest this offseason. The Dallas Cowboys had asked to interview him for their defensive coordinator opening, but the Falcons blocked that request. However, just a few months later, he is part of the NFL’s 2026 Accelerator Program in Orlando, where 34 coaches and executives are being showcased as serious candidates for future promotions into head coach and general manager roles.

The opportunity matters even more because Ulbrich is no longer just a career assistant with theoretical upside. He already got a shot to run a team in 2024 when the New York Jets fired Robert Saleh and made him the interim head coach. The Jets were 2-3 under Saleh when the hammer fell, and then went 3-9 under Ulbrich to finish the season. While that’s not a spectacular record, it’s worth noting that he was thrown into the head coaching gig mid-season, and still kept things running under the game-management pressure and the weekly scrutiny that comes with it.

Atlanta also had a choice to cut ties with Jeff Ulbrich when they fired head coach Raheem Morris last season. But the team decided to keep him in the building to help new head coach, Kevin Stefanski, instead. In return, Ulbrich has also made it clear that Atlanta’s faith in him mattered.

“Typically, a staff member gets fired. It is that. The staff gets fired, and everybody goes along their way,” Ulbrich said. “For them to hold on to my contract, first of all, I was blown away. It was an honor for the organization to want to keep me, in spite of us not winning as many games as we thought we could have and should have. So in that, I was honored.”

Atlanta has a football reason to care, too. Under Ulbrich, the Falcons’ scoring defense ranked 19th in the league last season, as opposed to 23rd in 2024. Atlanta’s overall defense also improved from 23rd to 15th in 2025. Losing him would mean replacing a coach just when the defense had started showing a serious upside.

Now, trying to hold on to a coach other people want is just one of the problems the Falcons are facing. Another problem they have right now comes from the league itself, and just like Ulbrich’s possible exit, Atlanta can’t do anything about it.

Atlanta’s scheduling nightmare

The league handed the Falcons an anniversary matchup with the New Orleans Saints for Week 4, on October 5. It is a matchup that falls near the 20-year anniversary of the Superdome reopening after Hurricane Katrina. The Falcons wanted to dodge it and even put in a request with the league, but it didn’t work out.

“I heard the Atlanta Falcons wanted no part of being the opponent for the Saints’ Monday Night Football game, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the historic ‘Dome-coming’ game in 2006,” NFL columnist Jeff Duncan reported on X. “And the NFL scheduled them for it anyway. #SacrificalLambs”

Week 3’s Monday Night Football actually falls closer to the anniversary date, but it needed a prime-time slot, which is why it was moved to the following week. The decision came from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell himself, as revealed by NFL VP of broadcast planning, Mike North.

“It was, and it’s really to the commissioner’s credit, it was, ‘We’re gonna play Falcons at Saints on Monday night this year,” North said. “Fit it in that kind of 3-week window. It wasn’t a requirement; it had to land in a special week, but it was a requirement straight from the boss that it landed on our schedule.”

The Saints managed to secure a win on the big day 20 years ago, which is why the Falcons did not want to feature in the matchup. However, now that they are part of it, they will look to spoil the party for the Saints fans and take a win on the road.