Jets’ Jeff Ulbrich is a teacher, motivator and NFL head coach material

In May 2008, Anheuser-Busch launched a new line of Bud Light, with a twist: lime. The idea was to capitalize on the summer months, barbecues and backyard parties. The commercials lauded how Bud Light Lime brought the “superior drinkability of Bud Light with a splash of 100 percent natural lime flavor.”

“One taste,” it said, “and you’ll find the summer state of mind — it’s in the lime.”

Jeff Ulbrich and Takeo Spikes wanted that feeling. In the dog days of the NFL season, they’d yearn for a crisp Bud Light with that citrus twist. Ulbrich paused a San Francisco 49ers linebackers meeting early in that 2008 season to say: “Man, a f—ing cold beer right now would be outstanding.” He went around the room asking his teammates what beer they would drink if, right now, they could crack one open. That became a weekly conversation.

“We always settled on Bud Light Lime,” Spikes said. “We used to call them BLLs.”

Ulbrich, now the New York Jets defensive coordinator, and Spikes liked it a certain way, cooled just enough to “where the icicles are in it,” Spikes said. They figured out that 33 degrees was the perfect refrigerator temperature, not quite cold enough to freeze. On off nights, Ulbrich, Spikes and the linebackers would drive around town trying to find restaurants that sold BLLs, and they’d request the bartender pull the cans from the very back of the fridge, with the icicles.

“We’d all get one, two would be the max,” said former 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis, laughing. “Those were good times.”

Spikes needed those moments. He was single and without kids, so Spikes often brought work home with him — and as an NFL player, his intensity ran high. There was no one at home to calm him down, to center him. He often struggled to find that balance. Then he met Ulbrich. When Spikes signed with the 49ers in 2008, Ulbrich was in the twilight of his career and Spikes was signed to take his starting job at inside linebacker. Ulbrich took care of him anyway. He helped teach Spikes the scheme and get him acclimated to a new environment, all while preparing him for life after football.

Some days, Ulbrich could sense that Spikes needed to get away, so he’d pull him aside and tell him: “Spikes, after work we’re going to grab us a BLL and we ain’t gonna talk about football.”

Ulbrich had that sort of chat with many through a 10-year playing career with the 49ers and a 14-year rise through the coaching ranks, where he had stops with the Seattle Seahawks, UCLA and the Atlanta Falcons. That’s all led him here, with the Jets, where he’s the defensive coordinator of one of the NFL’s best defenses, with dreams of one day getting his shot at being a head coach. In 2023, the Jets defense has, to quote head coach Robert Saleh, “embarrassed” star quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert and C.J. Stroud. All of them had their worst or second-worst passer rating against the Jets, who are 5-8.

If the Jets’ defense keeps dominating like this, Ulbrich’s first shot at a head coaching job might happen sooner than later.

He’s earned the opportunity.

Just ask those he’s met along the way.

Ulbrich used to joke that he wouldn’t be one of those NFL players who retired gracefully.

“I’ll leave when one wheel is off and one wheel is flat,” he said, “and a couple of spokes are missing.”

He meant it. The game gave him so much, he wasn’t going to simply let it go away. Just think about the beginning: Ulbrich left San Jose State as a freshman to work for a sheet metal factory in northern California. He hated it, so he returned to football and in 1997 took a recruiting visit to the University of Hawaii. On that trip, he met his wife, Cristina. Now they have three kids together: Samantha, Jax and Jace.

He was drafted in the third round by the 49ers in 2000, a surreal moment for the kid who grew up rooting for them in San Jose. When he walked into the 49ers locker room for the first time, Ulbrich saw Jerry Rice, Steve Young and Ken Norton Jr., his heroes, now teammates.

There’s a “10-year wall” at the 49ers facility that honors anyone who played 10 or more years in the organization. Seeing his name listed is one of his proudest accomplishments. Ulbrich stuck it out with one team, a rarity in the modern NFL, and survived four different coaching regimes. He learned something from all of them. Ulbrich was a hard-nosed, “tough as nails” inside linebacker, Willis said, with good instincts and an impressive ability to read and react to the offense. His role constantly changed over 10 years and he didn’t mind it, starting out playing only on running downs (first and second), to playing every down, to just third down to mostly just playing on special teams.

Spikes signed in August 2008 when training camp had already started, to take Ulbrich’s job. Ulbrich didn’t care.

“I just remember one time he told me: There’s only so much coaches can teach a player. The biggest learning that you really can absorb is from peer to peer,” Spikes said. “That’s what Jeff brings. He can talk to you as a coach, and then he can also put himself in the player’s position and be able to tell them: This is how you should think about it. I want to hear how you think about it, but this is how you should look at it. If it don’t work for you, throw it out. That was his introduction to me. In this defense, this is where it’s supposed to go, this is the ideology about it. That’s what made Jeff so good — he was able to simplify things and allow you to play fast.”

Willis was drafted in the 2007 first round, and his locker was next to Ulbrich’s. One day, a rookie Willis asked Ulbrich: “How do you know when it’s time to retire?”

Ulbrich laughed.

“You’re a first-round pick. You have a long career ahead of you. Why are you talking about retiring?”

“That was my first time meeting him,” Willis said. “He always tried to put me in the best position to be successful.”

That included helping him line up in practice as a rookie and making sure he was making calls the right way as an inside linebacker. When Ulbrich invited Willis and his girlfriend to his house for a holiday party, Willis saw how his teammate interacted with his family. How much he valued that time away from the field. That resonated. On road trips, players would go out to dinner together, Willis said, and then some would go out partying at night. Not Ulbrich — he’d retreat back to the hotel, preferring to spend time with his wife and kids.

“When he got around his family it was like nothing else mattered,” Spikes said. “He didn’t care what type of day he had at the office. It was like, ‘I just want to make sure I’m around for them.’”

Abruptly, Ulbrich’s career ended. In 2009, he suffered a concussion on a kickoff early in the season in a game against the Rams. It felt like it might be the end — and then it was.

When it happened, “He was like: Spikes, my head is burning on the inside,” Spikes said. “He was looking like a zombie. He was there but he was not there. He said: ‘It’s like somebody got a torch on my brain.’”

Ulbrich announced his retirement that December, the effects of the concussion still lingering. But he loved the game too much to leave it behind.

Sometimes Scott Pioli and Ulbrich, the Falcons linebackers coach, would just sit together in the weight room and really listen to the music playing, what the lyrics meant. Their shared musical taste was eclectic: Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2Pac, Bon Jovi, Audioslave, The Roots, Bruce Springsteen and Van Halen were among those on the playlist.

When Van Morrison would play, that’s when the deep conversations would start. They’d talk about life, their struggles along the path to the NFL. Pioli still thinks about those chats when he hears Van Morrison. Ulbrich, too.

“I always took something powerful from those talks,” said Pioli, who was the Falcons’ assistant general manager from 2014-19. Ulbrich was the linebackers coach in Atlanta from 2015-19, promoted to assistant head coach in 2020. They didn’t talk about football in the weight room — those conversations were reserved for Pioli’s office.

Each January, no matter where the Falcons were in the playoff race, Pioli counted two or three times a day Ulbrich would come knocking on his door to talk about a prospect in the upcoming draft. This was part of the process, but Ulbrich was more passionate about it than most position coaches. Once a year, the Falcons front office would assign a list of prospects for each coach to study. Pioli trusted Ulbrich’s opinions more than most.

“Just because someone coaches the game doesn’t necessarily mean they can evaluate talent well,” Pioli said. “But he’s a tremendous talent evaluator.”

When Ulbrich was passionate about a player, he “became their campaign manager,” Pioli said, pointing to three Ulbrich success stories in particular: De’Vondre Campbell (fourth round, 2016), Deion Jones (second round, 2016) and Foyesade Oluokun (sixth round, 2018).

Campbell was viewed as a raw prospect with some perceived questions about his maturity, which Ulbrich discovered to be unfounded after digging in. He saw Campbell’s potential. Ulbrich fell for Oluokun after watching his film and discovering that while at Yale, he’d line up everywhere — linebacker, edge rusher, safety, even cornerback — and thrived at all those spots. In Ulbrich’s eyes, that meant he had a high football IQ. One key Falcons scout didn’t have a high grade on Oluokun, but Ulbrich pounded the table for him, explaining exactly how he’d use him in the Falcons defense. He won the staff over with his plan for the player — and it worked.

“He was invested in the players he coached,” Pioli said. “They became family members. A huge part of football players becoming good NFL players is acquisition and development. I say it all the time: Development is circumstantial. A player has to be in the right situation, around the right people. So once Brick got those guys, he’s acutely aware of people’s strengths and limitations.

“Brick’s thing (when he played) was he knew that he had limitations but for him to last as long as he did, he knew how to get better. He knew what his strengths were, he knew what his limitations were. As a coach, he helped players identify that in themselves also. What he did is he came up with plans for everybody in a positive way and in an honest way of how guys can create and overcome whatever their limitations were. He had a plan for everyone.”

Campbell developed into an All-Pro, Jones a Pro Bowler and Oluokun led the NFL in tackles in 2021 and 2022 before signing a $45 million deal with the Jaguars this offseason.

“Brick grew me into a pro,” said Jones, now with the Panthers. “Being on me, holding me accountable, holding me to a high standard. He does that with all his players. From top to bottom in that room, we were all held to the same standard. … He looked at the building like we’re all family and we’re all here to feed each other’s family. That was something he always talked about. He walked that walk and talked that talk, too.”

Campbell, now with the Packers, called Ulbrich “probably the best coach I ever had.”

“I think he’s head coach material,” Campbell said.

Bryce Hall sat down for a meal in the Jets cafeteria after a training camp practice. Ulbrich pulled out a chair and sat next to him. He had a question.

Is this your contract year?

Yes, Coach.

So Ulbrich made a prediction.

“You’re going to have an opportunity this year and you’ll be the reason why we win some games,” Hall, a Jets cornerback, recalled. “He said that before the season. It was like he was speaking prophetically because I think that’s what he sensed in his heart. … How he sees that in people is truly a testament to how he is as a coach.”

Two years ago, Hall was a full-time starter. In 2022, he was healthy scratch in 12 of 17 games. And in training camp, he was staring up at a depth chart with four players (Sauce Gardner, D.J. Reed, Michael Carter II, Brandin Echols) ahead of him. So those words meant something to him — and then they came true. Reed was out with a concussion in Week 5 and Hall, filling in, returned a fumble for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, a three-point lead turning into a 10-point victory. He started again in Week 6 against the Eagles and didn’t allow any catches to Philadelphia’s star wide receivers.

The day before that Eagles game, Ulbrich found out he would be without both Reed and Gardner, the Jets’ elite cornerback duo, due to concussions.

“I know he didn’t sleep much that night,” Hall said.

Ulbrich was forced to get creative. In a game against two dominant wide receivers (A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith) and a top-level quarterback (Hurts), he was forced to start Hall opposite Craig James, a practice squad call-up. Most weeks, Ulbrich keeps Reed on one side of the field and Gardner on the other. He adjusted that against Philadelphia: Hall played on both the left and right side throughout the game. Carter, the nickel corner, played on the inside and outside. Safeties like Tony Adams and Ashtyn Davis played the slot and at safety. Another practice squad call-up (Tae Hayes) played both sides. The shuffling worked — Hurts struggled, Smith was shut down and Brown didn’t score in a 20-14 upset win.

“He put together a game plan to put us in the best situation,” Hall said. “He had to do a lot of scrambling, thinking, changing personnel, this, that and the third trying to figure out how to put us in the best situation. I think he did that. I know a lot went into that week.”

Ulbrich’s emphasis in his coaching is to keep things simple scheme-wise in order to allow players to excel in their roles, so they don’t try to play outside of that skill set. Clearly, it’s worked: The Jets have had one of the best defenses in the NFL since last season, ranking at or near the top in most important stats: first in EPA, first in passing yards allowed, first in percentage of plays allowed of 10- and 20-plus yards, second-fewest explosive plays allowed, second-best red zone defense, fourth-best scoring defense, fourth in pressures and sixth in sack percentage. It has come a long way from Ulbrich’s first year under Saleh in 2021, when the Jets ranked last in many categories, including scoring defense and yards allowed.

“I feel like he’s a coach that’s willing to compromise, willing to do whatever as long as he feels like it’s going to get us closer to the common goal,” Davis said. “Which is winning football games.”

Ulbrich doesn’t chew out players. His method is positive reinforcement — and that approach resonates with the Jets defense in part because they all know what he accomplished as a player. Not all coaches have the same pedigree.

“He’s just a real coach,” defensive end Jermaine Johnson said. “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.”

During warmups before every practice, Ulbrich walks up to each player and shakes his hand. When he gets to safety Tony Adams, he stops, smiles and tells him: “TA, quit f—ing around.”

“You can expect consistency out of Brick,” Adams said. “You can expect a great leader and a great teacher. He does a great job of teaching us, leading us, holding people accountable. He doesn’t leave anybody out. I think sometimes you get coaches who don’t really care. Brick cares. He cares for us as players and you can tell as a player, the way we go out there and play for him … it’s not by accident.”

Ulbrich had never let the idea of being an NFL head coach cross his mind before. He’s started to let it creep in.

“I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say there’s times where I’ve thought about it,” Ulbrich said last week.

Ulbrich has always tried to stay where his feet are. Right now, that means Jets defensive coordinator. When he goes home, he’s Cristina’s husband, and a father to Samantha, Jax and Jace. Maybe in the offseason, he’ll get a real opportunity to think about what being a head coach might look like.

This is where he’s supposed to be, right now, with the Jets, working for an organization he believes in.

It feels right.

Like a crisp Bud Light with a citrus twist.

— The Athletic’s Joseph Person and Matt Schneidman contributed.

(Top photo: Rich Schultz / Getty Images)

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