Falcons, DC Jeff Ulbrich fined for Shedeur Sanders prank call

The NFL has rendered its judgment on the issue of last Friday’s prank call to NFL Draft hopeful Shedeur Sanders. While the son of Atlanta Falcons’ defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, Jax Ulbrich, is responsible for the phone call and admitted as much, the fact that he was able to access Sanders’ number at all from the iPad of his father means that, in the eyes of the NFL, he is responsible for the call. As are the Falcons: both Ulbrich and the Falcons were fined for the call, to the tune of $100,000 and $250,000, respectively, per NFL Network.

Jax Ulbrich and an unidentified friend called Sanders on Friday night to tell him that he’d been selected by the New Orleans Saints in the 2025 NFL Draft. Sanders would not actually end up being picked until the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns, who traded up to pick No. 144 to select him. Jax Ulbrich had “unintentionally” come across Sanders’ phone number on his father’s iPad and saved it for later use, according to the Falcons.

Jeff Ulbrich apologized to the Sanders family and Falcons’ organization when he met with reporters on Wednesday.

“First of all, I’d like to publicly apologize to Shedeur and the Sanders family for what occurred,” Ulbrich said in a statement at the start of his press conference. “Second of all, I want to publicly apologize to Mr. Blank, Terry Fontenot, Raheem Morris, and the entire Falcons organization. My actions in not protecting confidential data were inexcusable. My son’s actions were absolutely inexcusable, and for that, we are both deeply sorry. 

“The NFL has taken action and I fully respect the punishment. We take full responsibility — my son and myself — and we will not appeal the fine in any way. Going forward, I promise my son and I will work hard to demonstrate we are better than this.”

Ulbrich added that the Sanders family was “amazingly gracious … more than they needed to be.”

Jax Ulbrich apologized for his role in the prank call in an Instagram post on Sunday. 

“On Friday night, I made a tremendous mistake,” Jax Ulbrich wrote. “Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful. I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish. 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.” 

[Related: Prank calls to NFL Draft prospects unrelated to Shedeur Sanders incident]

The Falcons also accepted responsibility for the incident in a statement released Wednesday. 

“We appreciate the NFL’s swift and thorough review of last week’s data exposure and the event that transpired due to it,” the team wrote. “We were proactive in addressing the situation internally and cooperated fully with the league throughout the process, and accept the discipline levied to Coach Jeff Ulbrich and the organization. We are confident in our security policies and practices and will continue to emphasize adherence to them with our staff whether on or off premises.”

As for Jax Ulbrich’s potential punishment, the Falcons shared that “the Ulbrich family is working with the organization to participate in community service initiatives in relation to last week’s matter.”

Sanders played down the incident when he was asked about it by Cleveland-area reporters on a conference call shortly after he was drafted on Saturday.

“It didn’t really have an impact on me, because it was just like, I mean, OK, like I don’t feed into negativity or I don’t feed into that stuff,” Sanders said. “You’ve seen on Deion 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.”

Sanders was not the only player to receive a prank call in anticipation of being drafted, though, he was the most high-profile case. The NFL is still investigating calls to Tyler Warren, Kyle McCord, Mason Graham, and Chase Lundt. Lundt said that he received “several” of these calls before he was selected in the sixth round, while Graham’s number appeared on a TikTok, resulting in a deluge of phone calls.

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