He left Ole Miss for the Falcons, and now he’s challenging Jeff Ulbrich

FLOWERY BRANCH — In the middle of February, Patrick Toney didn’t think he’d be here, standing on the edge of the Falcons’ practice facility, winding down after the final mandatory minicamp practice of his first summer with the team.

But four months and an undeniable opportunity later, there stands Toney, the Falcons’ defensive passing game coordinator, racking through details of how it all happened, and changed, so fast.

“It was interesting, for sure,” Toney told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Toney spent the past three years as the Cardinals’ defensive backs coach. But at the end of last season, the Cardinals cleaned house, putting Toney on the free-agent market.

There were options to consider. None was more intriguing than the opportunity to become the defensive coordinator at Ole Miss, which was fresh off a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals under coach Pete Golding.

Toney and Golding share an extensive history. When Golding was the defensive coordinator at Southeastern Louisiana from 2012-13, Toney was a defensive assistant working his first Division I job. They reunited at UTSA in 2016-17, when Golding was the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, and Toney oversaw the safeties.

Golding needed a defensive coordinator at Ole Miss, and Toney needed a job. Leading the Rebels’ defense, he said, was an “amazing opportunity.” So, after eight seasons apart, Toney and Golding reunited this spring in Oxford, Mississippi.

“When that opportunity came about at the end of the NFL season, I thought that was going to be the best move for my family and myself, careerwise,” Toney said. “You weigh every opportunity based on the program, the coach and all those things.

“I have a history with coach Golding, consider him a mentor and a friend. So that was definitely a good fit.”

But Toney’s tenure at Ole Miss lasted only 52 days. When he accepted the job in Oxford, he “didn’t realize this opportunity was going to present itself” with the Falcons.

The chance to return to the NFL knocked on his door. Toney answered.

“Ultimately, my goal is to coach at the highest level, and we’re at the highest level in the NFL here,” Toney said. “I have a lot of respect for the staff and the players here and the ownership. So, it was definitely, when weighing the options, became a clear decision I wanted to make for my future.”

Toney had no previous connections to the coaches on the Falcons’ staff.

“Hopefully word of mouth and just doing a good job where I’ve been,” he said of coming across the Falcons’ radar. “Word travels, so I would hope that’s the reason I got my name brought into the dimension here.”

The 36-year-old Toney was, however, very familiar with Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.

A native of San Diego, Toney grew up watching the San Francisco 49ers. Ulbrich, who had a decadelong playing career as a linebacker, joined the team when Toney was 10 years old and retired the year after Toney graduated from high school.

From a distance, Toney followed Ulbrich’s coaching career, too. He monitored Ulbrich’s six-year stint as the Falcons’ linebackers coach, his four-year run as the New York Jets’ defensive coordinator and his success leading the Falcons’ defense last season.

Respect and admiration grew. But Toney isn’t awestruck, nor too afraid to speak up to the guy who once manned the middle of his boyhood team’s defense.

Quite the opposite, actually. Toney is challenging Ulbrich — and rapidly earning respect from the head of the Falcons’ defensive staff.

“I can’t speak enough for the hiring of Patrick Toney and the influence he’s brought,” Ulbrich said on NFL Network in May. “He’s got this amazing database of information and I’m very fortunate to have him.

“He’s really been able to challenge schematically some of the stuff that we’re doing and also maybe elevate the way we teach the stuff that was already in place.”

Toney views the interactions as constructive conversations.

In football, he said, there are often two ways to do things, and neither method is inherently right or wrong. So, Toney and Ulbrich converse and decide what’s best for the defense, and more specifically within Toney’s passing-centric jurisdiction, what’s best for the secondary and back seven in coverage.

“It’s been a lot of great dialogue and conversation,” Toney said. “And really more so just streamlining rules and assignments and adjustments and coming up with a toolbox to use throughout the season.”

The subjects of conversations between Toney and Ulbrich vary. It could be schematic. It could be technique. It could be neither.

Coaches, at their core, are teachers. One of their primary tasks is finding the best route to instruct — or teach — their players and present information in a timely manner. That assignment, as much as pure scheme, is an oft-discussed topic.

“A lot of times, it’s just the same thing, maybe just reworded differently,” Toney said. “A lot of times, it’s not even real changes to the scheme. It’s more so just changes to how we’re presenting that information to the player so they can go out and execute fast on Sunday.”

Toney chose to leave a defensive coordinator perch at a consensus Top 15 Division I program to have conversations like that.

He bet on himself and his dream of being an NFL head coach. So, he left the comfort of working with Golding, a close friend, to work under Ulbrich, who he knew only from his resume.