Posted on 04/27/2025 8:16:41 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich admitted to a prank call made to Shedeur Sanders during the NFL draft and apologized in an Instagram post Sunday.
The NFL is looking into the situation, specifically how Sanders' private number leaked, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter. The Falcons said in a statement Sunday that 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich wrote down the number from his father's open iPad while visiting his parents' home "to later conduct a prank call."
As Sanders continued to wait for his name to be called on Day 2 of the draft Friday, a video surfaced on social media of the former Colorado quarterback receiving a call from someone impersonating New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis.
The caller told Sanders: "We're going to take you with our next pick, man, but you're going to have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that."
A confused Sanders asked the crowd gathered for his draft party, "What does that mean?"
Jax Ulbrich wrote in his post that what he did was "completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful." He said Sanders accepted his call earlier.
"I'm so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish," Jax Ulbrich said in his Instagram post. "I could never imagine getting ready to celebrate one of the greatest moments of your life and I made a terrible mistake and messed with that moment. Thank you for accepting my call earlier today, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
The Falcons will not take any action against Jeff Ulbrich, according to Schefter.
In a conference call with Cleveland-area reporters after he was drafted by the Browns in the fifth round Saturday, Sanders said he wasn't bothered by the prank.
"It didn't really have an impact on me," Sanders said, "because it was just like, I mean, OK, like I don't feed into negativity, or I don't feed into that stuff. You've seen on Deion [Sanders] Jr.'s YouTube video my reaction to it, I don't -- it is what it is. I think, of course, it is childish. Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there."
New Indianapolis Colts tight end Tyler Warren also received a prank call before he was selected in the first round by Indianapolis, a league source told ESPN's Stephen Holder. Buffalo Bills sixth-round pick Chase Lundt, an offensive tackle, said in his introductory news conference that he received "four or five" prank calls during the draft.
"There were a lot of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' throughout the course of the morning, but I was able to kind of push them aside after a while and just kind of stay levelheaded through it all," Lundt said.
A Falcons team official told Schefter that Jax Ulbrich was not behind those calls and had only Sanders' phone number.
The Falcons said in their statement that Jeff Ulbrich was not aware of the data breach, or the prank call, until after the fact. The team said it would review its protocols to ensure something like this doesn't happen again.
"The Atlanta Falcons do not condone this behavior and send our sincere apologies to Shedeur Sanders and his family, who we have been in contact with to apologize to, as well as facilitate an apology directly from Jax to the Sanders family," the Falcons' statement read.
21 years old is old enough to know that was a stupid thing to do. I cannot imagine how mortified his dad must be.
Were the Browns one of the teams Sanders’ father said he would never go to?
mortified? kind of a response out of proportion to a kid’s prank call to the sanders kid. what’s even funnier is the low iq statement from sanders’ boy about ‘ “not feeding into the negativity” - “like , like, like “ “ this kid talks like an 11 year old girl.
Of course it was a privileged frat kid named “Jax.”
It wasn’t even funny, everybody was confused. Lame really.
I heard they pranked another potential draft pick.
Online sports betting is the only reason the NFL draft gets hyped so much. The Shedeur Sanders draft pick number was hyped for weeks. This prank phone call blew up the entire farce.
How did it do that?
Correction..... This prank gave some comic relief, but the football draft rolled on for the sports betting crowd.
Yes, Cleveland is where sports careers go to die...............
Lots of lefties with their feathers in a bunch because this mid-level talent didn’t get drafted in the first round. Screams of racism, collusion, and such abound. Racism? Really? When most of the talent selected are blacks.
Leftism is a mental disorder.
Give the frat boy a medal for making a mockery of the whole man child industry. They all deserve each other.
I enjoy watching the draft every year. Now look at what it’s become. Can’t blame the NFL for milking it to the limit. What’s needed is an 18 year old HS graduate to challenge it’s legality. He’d win. Pop the balloon.
If 18 year olds can serve in the military they’re entitled to be employed. The colleges got away with screwing their athletes.
Eventually they will rule the Draft is illegal.
I guess the draft was televised since 1980, but I never had cable until the very end. You didn’t even get much coverage of the draft in the paper then.
In the 70’s it was on radio only. Guys all over the country mysteriously called in sick at work to listen in. Took awhile for the NFL to know they had something going.
They should do it in Hawaii. They need the tourists.
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