Some of the Stops on Jeff Ulbrich's Flight Path to Jets Interim Head Coach

One of Jeff Ulbrich's résumé bullet points that made him into an inquired-about NFL head-coaching candidate as recently as earlier this year concerns his history not only on the sidelines but in between the white lines. He not only coaches the game, he played the game.

Jets CEO Woody Johnson alluded to that background when he said in his statement about replacing HC Robert Saleh with Ulbrich on Tuesday: "I believe Coach Ulbrich, who played in the league for 10 years, has the respect of coaches and players on this team."

Going back almost to the beginning of Ulbrich's story, he was a top athlete at Live Oak HS in Morgan Hill, CA, just southeast of the San Francisco Bay area, earning first-team all-league honors and being named team MVP. His college travels took him to San Jose State (where he redshirted in his only season), Gavilan College in Gilroy, CA, and finally to Hawaii, where he was a two-year starter and as a Rainbow Warriors senior was team co-captain and was named first-team All-WAC.

That led to Ulbrich being drafted by San Francisco in the third round, No. 86 overall, of the 2000 NFL Draft. He played exactly a decade of ball for the 49ers. From 2001-04, his second through fifth seasons, he was a Niners starter, logging starts in 56 of the team's 64 games in that span. From there his starts decreased but his availability was almost always high as he played in all 48 games from 2006-08 for San Fran, a lot at linebacker and a lot on special teams.

For his pro career, he compiled 458 total defensive tackles plus 35 more in kick coverage. He didn't rush the QB much, totaling 5.5 sacks. He forced six fumbles, recovering two, and he got his hands on some opposing passes, notching 13 pass defenses and 2 interceptions.

Ulbrich retired at 32 due to a concussion in 2009, but It didn't take him long to determine that he wouldn't be leaving the game he loved.

"I've been in their shoes and sat in their chairs and know what it feels like, so it can give me perspective in that way," he said in 2021. "Hopefully it gives me a little street cred, the fact that I've done it and played for a while, that there's a level of trust there, maybe, that a former player can generate. Beyond that, other than the headaches that I have, not much of an advantage, though."

He joined former Jets HC Pete Carroll's first Seattle Seahawks staff as assistant special teams coordinator in 2010-11, then the next three seasons . He spent three seasons on Jim Mora's UCLA staff, then moved back to the pros with Atlanta.

He served as the Falcons' LBs coach from 2015-19, picking up the co-defensive coordinator title that he shared with Raheem Morris midway through '19. Then Ulbrich experienced a roller-coaster 2020 in which then-HC Dan Quinn named him assistant head coach, then six games into the season, the Falcons dismissed Quinn, named Morris the interim head coach, and Morris tabbed Ulbrich as his DC for the last 10 games.

That set the stage for Ulbrich to rejoin Robert Saleh, who coached with him in Seattle in 2011, as the Jets' D-coordinator. And the rise has been steady and at times spectacular, as this chart shows of his defense's NFL rankings from 2021 through the start of this sesason: