The New York Jets lost a bevy of coaches this offseason, but they almost lost the most important piece to the puzzle.
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic shared in a column posted on Monday, March 4 that the San Francisco 49ers had “conversations about” stealing defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
“There was mutual interest in exploring a marriage” between Ulbrich and the 49ers, Rosenblatt explained.
Ultimately the Jets made it clear that they were not going to let Ulbrich leave,” Rosenblatt said. “Teams can block coaches under contract from taking jobs with other teams unless it is a promotion (from position coach to coordinator, or coordinator to head coach), which was not the case here.”
Before arriving at that decision, the 49ers did “due diligence” on a potential Ulbrich hiring. Rosenblatt said the 49ers never officially requested an interview with him, but there were plenty of conversations had.
One of the reasons for that could be the Jets’ overall lack of winning. That has left Ulbrich’s brilliant performances out of the spotlight.
Rosenblatt noted that two of the last three 49ers defensive coordinators have gone on to become head coaches (Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans). San Francisco has been to at least the NFC championship game in four of the last five years. That period also includes a pair of trips to the Super Bowl.
