ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has been retained on new coach Kevin Stefanski's staff, the team announced Monday.
The decision to keep Ulbrich came two days after Stefanski was named as the replacement for fired coach Raheem Morris. Ulbrich carried the endorsement of Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who had said when Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot were fired that he would recommend but not mandate the new coach keep the defensive coordinator.
Morris was fired following an 8-9 finish in his second season despite improvements on defense, including the pass rush led by rookie first-round picks James Pearce Jr. and Jalon Walker and second-year player Brandon Dorlus. In Ulbrich's first season as defensive coordinator, the Falcons set a team record with 57 sacks, one year after finishing next-to-last in the league with 31.
Pearce finished with 10 1/2 sacks, the most by a Falcons player since Vic Beasley had 15 1/2 in 2016. The 2025 draft class also included safety Xavier Watts, who had five interceptions.
Another safety, Jessie Bates III, was one of Atlanta's four players named All-Pros in 2025. Bijan Robinson was named a first-team running back and second-team all-purpose player. Tight end Kyle Pitts Sr., right guard Chris Lindstrom and Bates earned second-team honors.
The decision to retain Ulbrich was the first staff decision announced following Stefanski's hiring on Saturday night, less than two weeks after he was fired by the Cleveland Browns. Stefanski is expected to bring in a new offensive coordinator and special teams coach.
Newly named president of football Matt Ryan, the former longtime Atlanta quarterback, led the search for Stefanski. Ryan is continuing his search for a new general manager.
Stefanski spent six seasons with Cleveland, where he twice was named AP Coach of the Year and had a 45-56 record. He was fired on Jan. 5 after the Browns finished 5-12.
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Former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan speaks during a news conference as the new Atlanta Falcons president of football, along with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Flowery Branch, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
U.S. President Donald Trump linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norway’s prime minister that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace,” in a text message released on Monday.
Trump's message to Jonas Gahr Støre appears to ratchet up a standoff between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark. On Saturday, Trump announced a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight nations that have rallied around Denmark and Greenland, including Norway.
Those countries issued a forceful rebuke.
The White House has not ruled taking control of the strategic Arctic island by force. Asked whether Trump could invade Greenland, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said on Monday that “you can’t leave anything out until the president himself has decided to leave anything out.”
Rasmussen, speaking to reporters following a meeting with his British counterpart Yvette Cooper in London, encouraged Washington to instead discuss solutions.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also sought to de-escalate tensions on Monday. "I think this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion,” he said, adding that he did not believe military action would occur.
In a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change their stance.
“We will not be pressured,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for business, minerals, energy, justice and equality, told The Associated Press that she was moved by the quick response of allies to the tariff threat and said it showed that countries realize “this is about more than Greenland.”
“I think a lot of countries are afraid that if they let Greenland go, what would be next?”
Trump's Sunday message to Gahr Støre, released by the Norwegian government, read in part: “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
It concluded: “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
The Norwegian leader said Trump’s message was a reply to an earlier missive sent on behalf of himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in which they conveyed their opposition to the tariff announcement, pointed to a need to de-escalate, and proposed a telephone conversation among the three leaders.
“Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter,” the Norwegian leader said in a statement. “As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is an independent body whose five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the president’s approach in Greenland during a brief Q&A with reporters in Davos, Switzerland, which is hosting the World Economic Forum meeting this week.
“I think it’s a complete canard that the president would be doing this because of the Nobel,” Bessent said, immediately after saying he did not “know anything about the president’s letter to Norway.”
Bessent insisted Trump “is looking at Greenland as a strategic asset for the United States,” adding that “we are not going to outsource our hemispheric security to anyone else.”
Trump has openly coveted the peace prize, which the committee awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado last year. Last week, Machado presented her Nobel medal to Trump, who said he planned to keep it, though the committee said the prize can’t be revoked, transferred or shared with others.
In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated they would be retaliation for last week’s deployment of symbolic numbers of troops from the European countries to Greenland — though he also suggested that he was using the tariffs as leverage to negotiate with Denmark.
European governments said that the troops traveled to the island to assess Arctic security, part of a response to Trump’s own concerns about interference from Russia and China.
Starmer on Monday called Trump’s threat of tariffs “completely wrong” and said that a trade war is in no one’s interest.
He added that “being pragmatic does not mean being passive and partnership does not mean abandoning principles.”
Six of the eight countries targeted are part of the 27-member European Union, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trade. European Council President Antonio Costa said Sunday that the bloc’s leaders expressed “readiness to defend ourselves against any form of coercion.” He announced a summit for Thursday evening.
Starmer indicated that Britain, which is not part of the EU, is not planning to consider retaliatory tariffs.
“My focus is on making sure we don’t get to that stage,” he said.
Denmark’s defense minister and Greenland’s foreign minister are expected to meet NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Brussels on Monday, a meeting that was planned before the latest escalation.
Associated Press writers Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida; Emma Burrows in Nuuk, Greenland; and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
The Danish navy's inspection ship HDMS Vaedderen sails off Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish soldiers disembark at the harbor in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish soldiers disembark at the harbor in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
