Jeff Ulbrich and most of the defensive staff are back, but not everyone’s staying. The Cleveland Browns are hiring Mike Rutenberg, Atlanta’s 2025 defensive passing game coordinator, as their defensive coordinator.
Rutenberg was a key piece of Ulbrich’s staff and had spent each of the past five seasons working with him, both as the linebackers coach with the Jets (2021-2024) while Ulbrich was the defensive coordinator and in Atlanta. Rutenberg helped put together game plans that stymied opposing passing
attacks, especially early in the season, and worked with a greatly improved secondary in 2025.
Jeff Ulbrich was clearly bracing to lose Rutenberg. The Falcons previously blocked secondary coach Justin Hood from interviewing with the 49ers, and I’d have to think he’s the strongest in-house candidate for the role. The team’s pass defense was 13th in yardage allowed despite injuries to key players like Mike Hughes, Billy Bowman Jr., and Divine Deablo, meaning they’ll need to invest in additional talent and effectively replace Rutenberg to avoid any pullback.
“He does an amazing job. He’s one of the best teachers in this game. He understands the back end at a PhD-plus level. He’s a great teacher of it,” Ulbrich said, noting that while he didn’t want to lose Rutenberg, the assistant would likely end up as a coordinator someday.
Now Rutenberg will fill big shoes in Cleveland, where he’s taking over for departing defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. The Browns defense was definitely the better side of the ball in 2025, but they elected to hire Todd Monken instead of Schwartz, leading him to depart. Rutenberg is a well-regarded assistant in a first-time role with a franchise that’s tough to work for, so we’ll wish him well and hope he can keep the good times going on defense.
