NY Jets announce 14 coaching assistants including DC Jeff Ulbrich

The NY Jets continue to fill out their coaching staff under new head coach Robert Saleh, and on Thursday, they officially announced the first 14 coaches that will be a part of Saleh’s initial staff.

Some of these names were already reported such as offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur and wide receivers coach Miles Austin. While others such as defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich were only speculated.

In total, the Jets announced nine offensive assistants that will serve under Saleh and five defensive assistants. It’s unclear how many additional coaches will be hired, but no special-teams announcements have been made so far.

Of the 14, three were already members of the coaching staff under previous head coach Adam Gase. Offensive assistants Todd Washington and Mack Brown will return as well as defensive assistant Chip Vaughn.

Below is a full list of the hirings announced so far.

We've also hired nine assistants to our offensive coaching staff.

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— New York Jets (@nyjets) January 21, 2021

We've also hired five assistants to our defensive coaching staff.

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— New York Jets (@nyjets) January 21, 2021

The NY Jets have announced the first 14 members of Robert Saleh’s staff

LaFleur and Ulbrich will be the Jets’ new coordinators with each calling plays on their respective side of the ball. Notably, Saleh has decided that he will not call plays — the first time a Jets head coach has done so in quite some time.

On offense, the likes of LaFleur, Austin, John Benton, Rob Calabrese, Greg Knapp, and Taylor Embree had already been reported.

Ron Middleton, the new tight ends coach, has held the same title with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the past eight years. Saleh and Middleton worked together from 2014 to 2016 when the new head coach was the Jaguars’ linebackers coach.

As for the defense, the only hire that had been alluded to was the addition of Ulbrich as the team’s new defensive coordinator and play-caller. Ulbrich, a linebacker for the 49ers from 2000 to 2009, has been with the Falcons since 2015.

He previously served as the team’s linebackers coach before being promoted to the role of assistant head coach and defensive coordinator in 2020. Now, he’ll call plays for the first time in his career.

Saleh and Ulbrich crossed paths for one year in 2011 where the two each served on Seattle’s coaching staff.

Aaron Whitecotton is the most notable hire of the defensive assistant as he comes over with Saleh from San Francisco. Whitecotton was the 49ers’ assistant defensive line coach in 2020 and he’ll receive a promotion under Saleh.

Much like Vaughn, Hayes Pullard is a former NFL player having played under Saleh while with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2015 to 2016. This will be the first NFL coaching job for the young 28-year-old.

Saleh also said after his press conference that special-teams coordinator Brant Boyer and defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson could return. Boyer and Wilson were survivors from the Todd Bowles regime and could stick around under their third head coach.

The Jets’ coaching staff continues to take shape. And now, we have a much clearer picture of how things are going to look come September.