GOOD NEWS : Atlanta Falcons have interviewed Texans coach for defensive position as Jeff Ulbrich’s replacement.

The Atlanta Falcons have begun conducting interviews for the vacant defensive line coaching post, meeting with Houston Texans assistant Nate Ollie.The Atlanta Falcons are looking to fill the final vacancy on their defensive staff.

Atlanta, which fired defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake and defensive line coach Jay Rodgers on January 11, named Jeff Ulbrich as defensive coordinator on January 18, and has begun interviews to find a replacement for Rodgers.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the Falcons are interviewing Nate Ollie, Houston Texans assistant defensive line coach, for the defensive line coaching position. Ollie joined the New York Jets in 2021 and worked with Ulbrich there.

Ollie, who played defensive tackle for Ball State University from 2010 to 2013, has 11 years of teaching experience, beginning in 2014 at Yorktown Middle School. From 2015 to 2017, he worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee, where he also served as interim defensive line coach for part of 2017. In 2018, Ollie was a coach at Eastern Kentucky University.

Ollie was appointed as the Philadelphia Eagles’ assistant defensive line coach in 2019, a position he held until 2020. Ollie joined Ulbrich with the Jets in 2021 before becoming the defensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts in 2022-23.

Ollie’s contract with Indianapolis terminated after the 2023 season, and the team did not renew it. Mike Chappell, a long-time Colts beat reporter, stated that the team’s choice not to keep Ollie was “strange” given his unit’s success.

“The Colts set a franchise record with 51 sacks and Kwity Paye and Dayo Odeyingbo, the team’s top two picks in the 2021 draft, showed marked progress,” Chappell wrote at that time. “Paye, a first-round choice, recorded career highs of 8.5 sacks and 52 tackles. Odeyingbo, a second-round pick in ’21, also established career highs with 8 sacks and 32 tackles.”

Ollie spent 2024 with the Texans, supporting a defensive front that recorded 49 sacks, tied for fourth in the NFL.

Ollie’s next stop may be Atlanta, though the team’s search is still ongoing.